Tag Archives: erotica

Dustin Reviews: Freshman Orientation (Pauer Bautam University #1) by Brandon Reed


Welcome to Pauer Bautam University… where gays… young and old… come to play.

Hunky college senior Ryan Kelly hasn’t gotten any in weeks… but that’s about to change. A new wave of freshmen are swarming the college campus, and he’s got his eyes set on a young hottie named Sean. Will Ryan’s dry spell finally come to an end?

WARNING: Explicit Gay Sex

Freshman Orientation is an adorable story of Ryan’s quest to score with the hottest new freshman Sean. Is it bad timing or kismet that repeatedly comes between these two young men preventing them from getting it on? A cute fast read.

Freshman Orientation is available at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0057YDBCS

Tags: mm romance, gay romance, gay & lesbian fiction, gay fiction, short story, young men, college boys

Kindle Edition, 51 pages (approximate)

3 out of 5 stars

Sexy Reading – Oh My


Earlier in the week I posted a poll on my Facebook Fan Page asking personal preference in regard to reading sexual scenes in literature. I admit the question was open ended and I provided only two options to select, either YES or NO. I was surprised that after only a couple of days, the poll had received 25 votes along with a good variety of comments.

The poll question: When reading, do YOU prefer to read a story that has sexual scenes?

Responses were 22 votes for YES and 3 for NO. Majority of those voting were authors, authors read just like anyone else.

What surprised me most were not so much the actual votes, but the comments made by those who visited the poll. Some comments were from individuals who did not feel comfortable answering either Yes or No, but added a comment instead.

A general theme ran through the comments, no matter how they voted: as long as the scene(s) related to the story and were realistic.

Some who voted YES commented that sexual scenes were not required. As readers, they were more focused on the story than the sexual scenes (if there were any).

Myself, I prefer reading releases from one particular publisher. Of the 15 or so books I’ve read from this publisher, the books contained no sexual scenes. Sex is implied but the element of the sexual act itself is assumed and not an actual part of the text. Again, this is my personal preference. I’ve read erotica and a number of books which contained from one to (in my mind) way too many sexual scenes and I often times felt that some stories were constructed around the sex scenes.

Each reader has his or her own preferences in the stories they read. Among a myriad of books available, readers can find plenty to suit their taste. There are no set rules as to what is to be included or excluded in a story, the poll was simply an exercise to obtain readers opinions. From the comments received, there were a variety of opinions expressed. I thank everyone who participated in the poll and for taking the time to share opinions and comments.

2011 Lambda Literary Award Winners


Congratulations  to the 23rd Annual Lambda Literary Award Winners

Lesbian Fiction

Inferno (A Poet’s Novel), by Eileen Myles, OR Books

Gay Fiction

Union Atlantic, by Adam Haslett, Doubleday

Lesbian Debut Fiction

Sub Rosa, by Amber Dawn, Arsenal Pulp Press

Gay Debut Fiction

Bob the Book, by David Pratt, Chelsea Station Editions

Lesbian Memoir/Biography (TIE)

Hammer! Making Movies Out of Sex and Life, by Barbara Hammer, The Feminist Press

Wishbone: A Memoir in Fractures, by Julie Marie Wade, Colgate University Press

Gay Memoir/Biography

Secret Historian: The Life and Times of Samuel Steward, Professor, Tattoo Artist and Sexual Renegade, by Justin Spring, Farrar, Straus & Giroux

Lesbian Mystery

Fever of the Bone, by Val McDermid, HarperCollins

Gay Mystery

Echoes, by David Lennon, Blue Spike Publishing

LGBT Anthology

Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation, edited by Kate Bornstein & S. Bear Bergman, Seal Press

LGBT Children’s/Young Adult

Wildthorn, by Jane Eagland, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

LGBT Drama

Oedipus at Palm Springs, by The Five Lesbian Brothers: Maureen Angelos, Dominique Dibbell, Peg Healey, and Lisa Kron, Samuel French, Inc.

LGBT Nonfiction

King Kong Theory, by Virginia Despentes, The Feminist Press

LGBT SF/Fantasy/Horror

Diana Comet and Other Improbable Stories, by Sandra McDonald, Lethe Press

LGBT Studies (TIE)

Another Country: Queer Anti-Urbanism, by Scott Herring, New York University Press

Assuming a Body: Transgender and Rhetorics of Materiality, by Gayle Salaman, Columbia University Press

Bisexual Fiction

The Lunatic, the Lover and the Poet, by Myrlin Hermes, Harper Perennial

Bisexual Nonfiction

Border Sexualities, Border Families in Schools, by Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli,Rowman & Littlefield

Transgender Fiction

Holding Still For as Long as Possible,by Zoe Whittall, House of Anansi Press

Transgender Nonfiction

Balancing on the Mechitza: Transgender in Jewish Community, edited by Noach Dzmura, North Atlantic Books

Lesbian Erotica

Sometimes She Lets Me: Best Butch/Femme Erotica, edited by Tristan Taormino, Cleis Press

Gay Erotica

Teleny and Camille, by Jon Macy, Northwest Press

Lesbian Poetry

The Nights Also, by Anna Swanson, Tightrope Books

Gay Poetry

Pleasure, by Brian Teare, Ahsahta Press

Lesbian Romance

River Walker, by Cate Culpepper, Bold Strokes Books

 Gay Romance

Normal Miguel, by Erik Orrantia, Cheyenne Press

Congratulations to all of the 2011 Lambda Literary Award winners!

For more information visit The Lambda Literary Awards website.

Million Dollar Question: Why would women write stories about gay men?


A new book, A Billion Wicked Thoughts: What the World’s Largest Experiment Reveals about Human Desire, authored by computational neuroscientists Ogi Ogas and Sai Gaddam shed some light on the growing female popularity of M/M Romance novels.

Here are some of their findings:

“Women prefer stories to visual porn by a long shot. The most popular erotica for women is the romance novel. That has more punch than any other kind of erotica. The second most popular would be fan fiction. This is something that has really exploded on the Internet. These are stories written by amateurs, mostly women, about characters from pop culture, movies, books, etc. Another popluar sub genre is Slash Fiction. Stories about two male characters are very popular. But the most popular fan fiction is about Harry Potter by a wide margin, followed by Twilight.”

“There are two reasons why women prefer stories, while men prefer visuals. Both come down to fundamental differences between the male sexual brain and the female sexual brain. One of the most basic differences is that the male brain responds to any single sexual stimulus. A nice chest, two girls kissing, older women — if that’s what they’re attracted to. Any one thing will trigger arousal in a male.

Female desire requires multiple stimuli simultaneously or in quick succession. It takes more stimuli and more variety of these stimuli to trigger genuine arousal.
For a guy, the most common form of [masturbation material] is a 60-second porn clip. For a woman, it can be a 250-page novel or a 2,000-word story. That’s the way to get multiple stimuli. Stories have greater flexibility to offer a greater variety of stimuli.

In male erotica, sex appears in the first one-quarter of the story [or film]. For women, it’s halfway in. There’s more time to develop the character before sex.”

“Another fundamental difference between men and women — perhaps the most important defining difference — is that in the male brain, physical and psychological arousal are united. If a man is physically turned on, he’s mentally turned on too.

With women, physical arousal and mental arousal are separate. [Research finds that women get physically aroused sometimes even when they find the situation disgusting.] The female brain is designed to be cautious, most likely because historically the woman who slept with the first guy she met might have a harder time raising children; he might not stick around. Women are designed to be cautious and gather more information.

That’s why fan fiction is all about exploring the emotions and character of the hero. In romance novels, the heroine learns about the secret inner life of the hero. That’s especially true in slash: that’s doubling up. There are two men — two masculine, strong alpha males who reveal their tender side. The emotional process of revealing true character is what’s so appealing to women.”

The Million Dollar Question, Why would women write stories about gay men?
“For women in slash fiction, it’s the psychological cues of a man’s character, stature, passion and emotional communication — slash doubles those.”

To Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2011/05/19/mind-reading-the-researchers-who-analyzed-all-the-porn-on-the-internet/
Excerpts from: Mind Reading: The Researchers Who Analyzed All the Porn on the Internet
By Maia Szalavitz Thursday, May 19, 2011

Dustin Reviews: More Than Make-Believe by Tymber Dalton


More Than Make-Believe
by Tymber Dalton

Just finished reading More Than Make-Believe.  Two men, neither looking for love, but when they discover they have feelings for each other, circumstances and situations change.  Sweet story,  beautiful ending.

4 out of 5 stars.

Starting somewhere


Friends encouraged me to write a short story. Okay, so I had never written before, but with such encouragement and support from those around me, I labored until a story was completed. A simple story of two men who fall in love and after surviving all kinds of trials and tribulations live happily ever after. Pleased with my monumental accomplishment, the story is posted on an online author website. To my surprise, the story is picked up by a publisher and now my story is in print. Wow! The publisher prods me into expanding the short story into a novel. That will take some work and I’m basically a lazy person. After some thought and to shut up pushy, meddling friends, I expand a tiny story into a novel. The publisher loves the story and it’s published. Never had any idea that anyone would find my story of any interest. The book sells and sells. It’s gone into a third printing. Foreign publishing rights are negotiated and my book is being published in almost every imaginable language. A movie producer proposes a movie deal based on my novel. My little story is soon being splashed across movie theater screens and played on DVD players and broadcast frequently on Premium cable channels. Who would have thought? Then, I woke up from my dream.

Writing Erotica or Porn?


“I admire anybody who has the guts to write anything at all.” -E.B. White

“You know how much I love porn!” A friend told me,  anxious to read my erotic short stories.

That got me to thinking, what is the difference between PORN and EROTIC literature? Encyclopedia Britannica defines erotic as, “literary or artistic works having an erotic theme; especially, books treating of sexual love in a sensuous or voluptuous manner. The word erotica typically applies to works in which the sexual element is regarded as part of the larger aesthetic aspect. It  is usually distinguished from pornography, which can also have literary merit but which is usually understood to have sexual arousal as its main purpose.”

Dictionary.com Unabridged defines pornography as, “obscene writings, drawings, photographs, or the like, especially those having little or no artistic merit.”

Irving Kristol noted, “Pornography is not objectionable simply because it arouses sexual desire or lust or prurience in the mind of the reader or spectator; this is a silly Victorian notion. A great many non-pornographic works—including some parts of the Bible—excite sexual desire very successfully. What is distinctive about pornography is that, in the words of D.H. Lawrence, it attempts “to do dirt on [sex]…. [It is an] insult to a vital human relationship.” In other words, pornography differs from erotic art in that its whole purpose is to treat human beings obscenely, to deprive human beings of their specifically human dimension. That is what obscenity is all about. It is light years removed from any kind of carefree sensuality—there is no continuum between Fielding’s Tom Jones and the Marquis de Sade’s Justine. These works have quite opposite intentions.”

Should we say there is a fine line between Porn and Erotica? Gloria Steinem noted, “Pornography is about dominance. Erotica is about mutuality. Though both erotica and pornography refer to verbal or pictorial representations of sexual behavior, they are as different as a room with doors open and one with doors closed. The first might be a home, but the second could only be a prison.”

May Chen noted, “Erotica writers can tell a story. There is a definite hero or heroine. You might have a few sex scenes in there, but it’s not gratuitous.” From the above comments, the basic differences seem to be that porn skips story and character development and focuses on the sexual acts, of dominance and submission, while eliminating an actual love interest between characters. Whereas erotica develops characters into a plot leading to the development of a relationship, where sexual acts support love or attraction between the leading characters, while developing the storyline.

Andrea Dworkin sums it up best, “Erotica is simply high-class pornography; better produced, better conceived, better executed, better packaged, designed for a better class of consumer.”