Blogs

Today we are happy to present Patrick Green, one of two men (soon to be three--stay tuned) who are published here at Paper Bag Press. His story, "Special Delivery," delivers hot sex in a sci-fi setting that is quite real. He has already blogged about being a man in a predominantly women's arena. Now he answers our questions.

Patrick, here's the standard first question:  why you enjoy writing erotica. Do you also enjoy reading it?
 
  There's a challenge in writing good erotica.  The genre lends itself to good storytelling, but as a man, I'm sort of expected to "skip to the good parts."  I like to defy expectations in that way, and also to exercise my own imagination.  Writing about sex is never boring!

Hurrah for spring! Beltane, April 30/May 1 is the time for celebrating all that is fertile and abundant. What better way than to get it on with some free erotica?

On May 1, for a whole day, your purchase will include a free story! Attached to each purchase will be a download for a new story, "Stuart and Mimi," from our new author, Brigid Night.

Free story! Tell your friends to come here on May 1, to take part in the abundance. Huzzah!

Photo ©T.C. Gardstein  All rights reserved. Used with permission.

Today we are interviewing T.C. Gardstein. Her writing is spicy and real, but has a haunting quality brought on by the point-of-view. The  availabliity of the prose and ease of reading is what helps to make her writing high on our list of favorites.

(Next post, the Department of Erotica will be back. In the meantime...)

For the past month, ever since the exterminator put the glue traps out, I was secretly rooting for the mouse.

I can't say I felt as generous when I busted an entire gang of mice partying in my kitchen late one night at the tail end of winter, rattling around in my paper trash, their microscopic droppings decorating my countertops, dish drainer, even the top of my refrigerator. I had no warning, and it made no sense, as the only edibles I keep out are bananas; no matter, the mice suddenly showed up en masse like unexplained characters in a surrealist film.

I had no cat to take care of this situation; nor could I borrow one, as I'm allergic. So I spoke with my landlord, who lives in the building and immediately called an exterminator, who proceeded to seal up the mouse holes behind my oven and refrigerator. He wanted to throw down some poison pellets, but I worried that the little invaders would die behind something heavy, like my massive bookcase (my kitchen is unusually large and can contain many of my books) or the oven, which I actually use and is set on shims, as the floors in my apartment are on a definite slant. When I'm in cheerful, sporty mode, I think of my apartment as a sailboat slightly heeling over; in tortured artist mode, I think of it as the Brooklyn version of Van Gogh's room at Arles.

Point being, I didn't want to have to ask a stronger friend over in the near future to help me move my oven or bookcase and then deal with mice in rigor mortis. The exterminator, who I'm sure has to deal with squeamish customers all the time, simply nodded and said he'd just do the poison-pellet routine down in the basement, where all the mice visit to throw darts and shoot pool (just kidding).

Lori Green writes erotica that is realistic, with engaging dialogue and believable characters. Her writing style is witty and easy on the eyes. Her two stories with us are mitch.com and Just Desserts.

Tell why you enjoy writing erotica. Do you also enjoy reading it?

 I love romance in all forms and in writing, I like to see the connection of the characters via emotion, communication and also physical desire. It's all about fantasy and what's more satisfying than people you've invested your reading time in, making a beautiful connection with excellent eroticism thrown in?

What other kinds of writing do you do regularly?

 It's all romance baby. Short stories and novel length stories with romance, sexual connection and deep felt emotion. (And sometimes a little humor thrown in. What can you expect when my dream man is Robin Williams?)

Who is your favorite character that you've written?

 Give me a romantic Spaniard (think Antonio Banderas) and I'll go to town. Although I'm very fond of Mitch in mitch.com because uh... let's just say I was on those blind dates myself and they were truly THAT disasterous! The pincher deserves his own story (hmmm... putting on thinking cap).

What are your thoughts about publishing, or being published?

 The most exciting part of this experience has been having the opportunity to be in on the ground floor of the launch of Paper Bag Press. To see the hard work and dedication in putting out work of quality, and to be given guidance in such a positive way to tighten and improve my own writing: I'm a fan girl, for sure!

I'm your fan, too. :) Can you tell us a bit about your life?

Get to know me!

Your fearless publisher lives in Denver, Colorado. On Friday, April 17, we were covered under about 8 inches of snow. I'm sure the mountains just to the west of us got completely buried. It's rather late to have this much snow. It is heavy and wet--really more like piles of slush when walking through it. Right now, it's raining on top of yesterday's snowfall. What a mess!

So, last night, the family got cuddled up in the lounge room, ready to watch Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Carribean 2: Dead Man's Chest. We settled in, watching the antics of these fearless pirates, as one of them creeped across the beach and then into the jungle of some lost island. Slowly, Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) followed a vine that was attached to a bottle he recognized. Suddenly, out of the shadows...

And our house shook.

No, seriously, our HOUSE. SHOOK. I almost jumped out of my skin.

"What the FUCK was that!" I yelled, right at the same time as my husband. I don't know that I've ever felt that much adrenaline. When I say the house shook, it was like the wall had pushed me forward, almost out of my seat. I ran to the front door to see what had happened. My husband found my cell phone first, and threw it to me across the room, saying, "Call 911."

I did so, and was immediately on hold. I opened the front door and did hear sirens in the near distance, but in an urban area, who can tell if they are going to the correct place? I finally talked to the dispatcher, who asked, upon hearing my address, "Did you hear an explosion?"

"Yes!" I said, "It shook our whole house!"

...and it is! We have fixed the issue. Thank you so much for your patience whie we worked out this issue. Word pr0n! Purchase away!

It appears that  we Twitterers, tweeting around the blogosphere, can make someone pay attention. This article, in the New York Times no less, tells of Amazon's reaction to their error. They do admit that it was their error, but they don't go into details about how or why it happened.

I suppose if you are running a monopoly, folks will watch you very closely, Amazon. After this #amazonfail, I bet you will be watched even closer by advocacy groups.

The first Saturday of April found me working at Chemistry, a very special party in Brooklyn thrown by some very special friends of mine. In addition to being a writer of erotica, highfalutin literary fiction, and poetry, I am also an astrologer. My friends procure all sorts of sexy, sensual entertainment at their Chemistry soirees—burlesque performers, masseurs and masseuses, live music, and a DJ guaranteed to get you into the groove, so to speak, whether you stay on the dance floor or head back to the “play” area.

For my brand of entertainment, I would focus on the individual sitting across from me and my laptop, which contains astrology software that enables me to pull up a chart in mere seconds. I decided, since I would only have about 10 minutes with each curious soul, to concentrate on—what else?—the X-rated aspects of each person's chart, including turn-ons and fetishes; the needs, wants, and fears that form a person’s sexual psyche, you dig?

The party space is a loft designed to maximize comfort and accommodate various degrees of action. I was put in the relatively quiet back room with the masseuse and masseur, who were dressed as supersexy superheroes and soon were rubbing down nude party guests on their tables. There were many lush plants and cozy couches, which were occupied by couples and single women getting to know one another, partaking of delicious hors d’oeuvres and drinks that were served at the BYOB bar.

Now, I don't normally watch much TV as I'd rather be reading a book, however, two shows have really caught my attention this season: The Big Bang Theory and Chuck.  The action and comedy involved in Chuck keeps you on your toes while busting your gut.  And TBBT?  You just laugh yourself silly until you don't think you can take any more... and then you laugh some more.

So, why am I blogging about this?  Because Chuck Bartowski is hot.  And I mean smokin'.  Oddly enough?  The more nerdly they make him look, the hotter he becomes.  But then, I guess there's just something about Zachary Levi that gets to me.  He has this great mouth, for one.  Oh, and those long, long legs of his?  The stuff erotic dreams are made of.  Well... or at least mine. 

Okay, so what about TBBT, you ask?  Well, you have Sheldon, the uber-geek, Raj the sterotypical geek, and Howard whom I can only describe as a Revenge of the Nerds kind of geek.  But then, then they throw Leonard at you.  I have no idea why he appeals to me, but he just does.  Maybe because he was the kind of guy I always befriended in high school?  I dunno.  All I know is those out-of-date glasses and that irrepressable grin do me in every time.  That and he's stuck somewhere between socially awkward geek and the boy next door. 

And now that you're all wondering just what I'm on today (iced mocha and chocolate chip cheesecake), why am I even bothering with this?  Well, I've noticed that the last few years there have been more and more 'hot geeks' emerging on TV.  But what about in romance?  Erotic romance?  You rarely see that sort of thing, although I do know that it's out there, you just have to look for it. And if you know where, let me know!  GEEKS UNITE!

Sorry.