Review of Wishbone

I just got one of the best reviews evar on the LiveJournal of Elisa Rolle.

Wishbone is at the same time classic and innovative. It’s classic where it retells the story of Pygmalion, or My Fair Lady, or Pretty Woman (see how many time it was told?): a wealthy and cultured man picks a filthy whore from the streets and teaches him how to behave. It’s innovative since, what the wealthy man teaches to the whore it’s a totally different thing from the usual lessons on good manners or polished language, but is instead the power you have in surrendering.

Review of Wired Hard 4

We got a review from Out in Print.

The collection starts off with “When Angles Fall”, by Helen E. H. Madden, a sexy and endearing science fiction story about how one man’s upbringing in a religious “cult” effects how he deals with his dying mother and the future that she leaves him.

One of my favorite stories was Tom Cardamone’s, “Royal Catamite”. It is a wonderful erotic story that pushes the taboo buttons of underage sex and incest, in a way that only Tom can do.

Review for Wired Hard 4

The Erotica Readers and Writers Association has a nice review of Wired Hard 4.

We now live in an era of ebooks and genetic engineering, instant messaging and cybersex, gender reassignment and gay marriage. The world has matured and many of the fantastic imaginings of Circlet’s authors have become familiar facts. In the second decade of the twenty first century, Circlet is still delivering some of the best speculative erotica available—appropriately in electronic form. Wired Hard 4 is a splendid example.

The eight stories in this collection are remarkably diverse. They are unified, first, by their raw sexual energy, and second, by the intimate mingling of human with other: machine, robot, animal, vampire, or god. Xan West’s lyrical introduction points out that most of these tales deal with transformations. Sex here is more than an avenue of pleasure. It is the gateway to new and different selves.

This is good news, right?

Up for Grabs is on a top ten erotic romances list. I think from this article that the original is on Rainbow Reviews, but I haven’t found it there yet. I’ll keep looking.

Update: I’m almost positive that the appearance of Rainbow Reviews on this post has nothing to do with it, and the link above is the source of the article.

New Review of “Up for Grabs”

This review is from Three Dollar Bill Reviews.

My personal favorites from this collection are “Transplant” and “Passage,” each of which explores a world where there is a unique option available to transgendered individuals. Each story delves into the emotional needs of the person to have a body that matches the soul, and the ramifications of making that change on other relationships. In “Transplant,” Katrina has been disowned by her mother while Chad’s mother is the exact opposite. In “Passage,” Maya is concerned about her lover still being attracted to her new body. The physical changes are one thing, but these stories choose to delve into the other changes that are inevitable and as such are extremely engaging and moving.

Wishbone is out

My first novel-length work to hit publication is now available from Torquere Books.

This calls for an excerpt. Why look. Here’s one now.

Read more

You know you’ve hit the big time…

…when someone writes fanfic based on your fiction.

This was a nice change from the usual Google Alert, which thinks I need to know about women hiding bombs under their burkas.

This alert was about a Yuletide Fanfic that someone wrote based on Mate. I’d never heard of this fanfic custom, so Cecilia Tan explained thusly:

It’s basically a humongous Secret Santa fest run annually on livejournal. Say you are a fan of various things. You put up a “Dear Santa” request like “I would like a fanfic written for me in either the Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Harry Potter, or Star Trek universes.” (I think you have to list at least three.) Then a fanfic writer becomes your secret santa and writes something to fit the requested spec, picking one of the fandoms listed.

You can see the resulting story here. For me it was a fascinating look at how people see my writing.

As always, you can buy the original collection in various places.

Up for Grabs gets a nod

The genderqueer anthology I edited earlier this year, Up for Grabs, got a mention at gather.com:

“If your reading tastes are a bit quirky, if you’re an open-minded reader, and if you enjoy the premise of “What if?”…then Up For Grabs, edited by Lauren P. Burka (Circlet Press) is just the book for you. In these five delicious tales, gender is up for grabs, and science pushes the boundaries between male and female, natural and unnatural.”

Review of Wired Hard 4

In other news, today we got a very nice review of Wired Hard 4.

As big a fan of explicit depictions of gay male sex as I am, an anthology of straight-up porn with no other major elements to it would probably not sustain my interest from cover to cover. Did I mention that I read this whole thing in one sitting, from start to finish? I did, and it was because each of these stories are beautifully told and packed with ideas. .

The further adventures of “The Ontological Engine”

People who have read my recent ebook anthology Up for Grabs have noticed that there is one story that is not really about transsexuality, though it contains some amazing transformations. It’s a steampunk tale that remains fresh and vivid even now that some of us are growing weary of steampunk. It has mad scientists, orgasm machines, and scandalous behavior set in a realm of Victorian manners. I’ve been asked by everyone including the author why I chose this anthology for The Ontological Engine. The full answer to this question is difficult to convey.

Let’s start with the Circlet Press slush pile. There is a certain type of manuscript that arrives with a cover letter stating “We hope you will enjoy this story, or at least find it funny.” This statement is the sign of doom. You could argue coincidence, or you could point out that these stories seem to be written by people who are so nervous writing about sex that they can only pull it off if the sex is so stupid that it can’t be threatening, or that there’s rarely anything funny about a story that tries too hard. These are stories that we anticipate reading with absolute dread.

“The Ontological Engine” is–not to put too fine a point on it–funny. And hot. Stories that make you laugh so hard that you have to loosen your clothes and so hot that you have to loosen them more are not easy to pull off. How could I not make room for this rauchy little number?

Since the original publication we’ve put an mp3 of this story up for sale (first part is free). We are beginning work on an entire collection of stories set in this world for 2010. I can hardly wait to get to work on cover art for this one. And today, just to bring another smile to my face, we have a lovely buff from the author of ErosBlog. Please enjoy the review, download the free first part of the mp3, pour yourself a nice cup of tea, and enjoy yourself.