Great Erotica
Ten Categories of Dirty Books, Curated for your Pleasure - From literary erotica to boundary pushing smut, we read dirty books and share only the best.Susanna’s Affairs: Erotica
My newest novella is out and it’s a dirty ride. I think I said before that it started as an homage to Emmanuelle and it still has some of that feel. It takes place in New York in the 1960’s, and it’s decadent, lush, and redefines the meaning of tension.
Susanna returns to the city after spending much of the summer in the country. After a quick encounter on the train home, however, Susanna finds herself unsatisfied yet completely intrigued. As she settles in once more to home life, she helps her husband seduce a new friend and quickly takes the young woman under her wing. But even amidst all her games and liaisons, she is still searching for her “man in the gray suit.”
But what will happen if she finds him?
The book includes group sex, seduction, edging, true love, bisexual men and women, an eighteen-year-old ingenue, unprotected sex, and probably a bunch of other dirty things I can’t list. What I mean to say is, it’s a very fun and very dirty book with some smart insights thrown in for good measure.
Here’s a snippet from the book that’s especially fun:
“Come here my dear,” she said in her most demanding tone. The girl sighed and finally got up. She had quickly become used to doing as Susanna asked, although it was still sometimes a struggle that played out between them, much to the delight of her husband and Jack. She took her shoulders in her hands and stood the girl directly in front of the startled man who could do nothing but look at her with a clear expression of both terror and lust on his face.
“My young friend here is quickly learning the pleasures of love and also the love of pleasure, isn’t that right, Kitten? Now if you’d like to help me with her education, I’m sure we might find a way to thank you for carrying this letter down in such nasty hot weather.”
“That’s not necessary,” he said, as Teresa squirmed in her hands, not actually protesting, but clearly beginning to pout.
“But of course it is,” she said, pushing the girl even closer to him. “And besides, think of it as doing me a favor. I’ve become worried that our little friend here is closing herself off to new experiences, and hoarding her charms in the grip of just one man, which as we all know isn’t healthy for anyone. Now hold still.”
And with that, she removed the last vestige of the girl’s modesty, leaving her perfectly naked in front of the messenger, who was clearly and visibly impressed. Without another word, Susanna pushed the girl to her knees, before gently combing her hair with her fingers.
“Now there’s a good girl,” she said, even as her friend whined just a bit. “You know what to do.”
Teresa, to her credit, reached up her hands and opened the man’s trousers, to find him already quite hard and ready. She played with him in her hands for just a moment, pulling the skin back and forth, exposing his thick head, before she opened her pink lips around him and took him into her mouth. She had practiced considerably with Jack, but taking the entire thing into her throat was still something of a challenge. But Susanna was impressed with the girl’s effort all the same, and the messenger was immensely pleased by what was happening.
After three or four minutes of watching the girl take him into her mouth, it became clear that Teresa was doing everything she could to bring about his release. She must have assumed that if she finished him there, she might be spared other indiscretions and therefore remain somewhat faithful to her new lover. Since that was the exact opposite of what Susanna wanted, she immediately pulled the gasping girl up to her feet and brought her to the couch where she pushed her to her back and opened her legs.
“I think you’ll find this a better fit,” she said to the man, who was eagerly kneeling and nodding his agreement. Susanna reached out and stroked him herself, eventually leaning in so she might taste him for a moment, before she rubbed him against the open sex of her blonde friend. There is always a beautiful thrill in taking a new man within you, but the thrill of helping two others accomplish the same task, was one that Susanna was quickly finding herself attached to. She had so far only watched her husband and Jack take the girl, and this third man, a perfect stranger, was somehow more delicious just for that fact alone.
Teresa squirmed once more, but finally allowed her friend to guide the messenger inside her, her body easily accepting him. She was more wet than she would have liked to admit, and while he was by no means small, he slid inside her with one thrust and held himself there against her, trying to catch his breath. He finally leaned in further, and began to kiss the girl on the mouth as he moved faster and faster, his goal clear and quickly approaching. Teresa moaned through their kisses, especially when Susanna worked her hand between them, rubbing her clitoris as the man fucked her, until both participants were close to finishing, in spite of someone’s initial resistance…
Free Erotica!
I have two fun and dirty erotica books that are free today, July 14th on Amazon.
The first is All The Groom’s Men and it’s a short, filthy, gangbang of a story. No seriously, it’ just a big gangbang with a bride on her wedding day getting it from all six groomsmen. She’s a ridiculously fun character who is completely over the top. It’s been said this book has one of the funniest anal sex scenes out there.
You can find All The Groom’s Men on Amazon here.
The second book is Watching My Wife. Can you tell there’s a wife theme? Our narrator has married a much younger woman who throughout their entire relationship has insisted they use condoms as protection. But once they begin to settle down, she quickly grows restless for the pleasures of adultery. When she discovers that her husband is turned on by the idea things get messy quickly.
Erotic Movies and Books: Emmanuelle 1974
I recently watched Emmanuelle, the 1974 classic erotic film, and I’m currently reading the book. It was a film I saw bits of so often when I was younger that even the name Emmanuelle dripped sex whenever I heard it. While I’m only part way through the books (it’s recommended on this site) it’s interesting to compare them.
One of the things I like about dirty stories and erotica in general is that they can not only be far more graphic than film (unless you’re watching hardcore porn, and even then) but often more emotionally intense as well. But, of course, visuals have their own place as well, and some of the most erotic movies aren’t anywhere close to graphic.
Emmanuelle the film has a lot of nudity, but most importantly it 
has a lot of tension, some enticing dialog, and some genuinely twisted scenarios that make it all that much hotter. For example, early on in the film a young woman arrives at Emmanuelle’s house and almost instantly removes her shirt, unbuttons her tiny jean shorts, and beings masturbating. Emmanuelle watches, both enticed and shocked, until the girl finishes with a smile, beginning their strange relationship with something of a bang.
The book also has a similar no-holds-bar pacing to it, with our narrator launching into anonymous sex with two men (on separate occasions) on an airplane almost immediately. It’s more personal, far more graphic than the film, and yet also somewhat detached. If you like your books, and films with plenty of tension, boundary pushing relationships, and a whole lot of sex, then these are definitely for you.
I definitely recommend reading the book and watching the movie, maybe in the same week if you can manage it.
Dirty Photo Books
I really love erotic photography, along with just plain old nude photos. Maybe it’s because I grew up surrounded by them, and maybe it’s simply that I’ve always been interested in naked bodies. But owning a big hardcover book full of beautiful nudes isn’t something I let myself do until I was in my 30’s. And while not quite a hobby, I do enjoy the books I have.
Here are a few selections from Amazon that you might enjoy as well.
You can find them all here:
Do Old Things Feel Less Dirty?
When it comes to all things old and dirty, I wonder if we often simply give ourselves permission to enjoy them without the same judgement we otherwise reserve for more contemporary pieces of explicit art.
A few months ago there was an article on the Huffington Post about the Victorian erotica artist Franz von Bayros. It was titled “19th-Century Lesbian Erotica Is A Truly Salacious Treat (NSFW),” which is a hell of a string of keywords. And while I wouldn’t consider the HuffPo to be an especially conservative news outlet (okay, not sure I would call it a news outlet at all) it was interesting to see them publishing fairly explicit illustrations.
No one will fault you for reading Anais Nin on the train, and a Helmut Newton print on your wall will get your a far different response than a screen shot from Brazzers. And yes, clearly there are different levels of erotic art, and I don’t mean to lump the old in with the old and the new in with the new simply for the sake of division. But I do suspect that age has a lot to do with how comfortable we are with dirty things. (Possibly in fifty years our contemporary porn will have the same vintage nostalgic feel that an old stag film does today.) Maybe it’s because it wasn’t made for us, and that lets us feel removed from it, or maybe it’s simply that it’s no longer culturally positioned as obscene.
Whatever the reasons, I’m always happy to see erotic art make an appearance in mainstream culture. I just hope that we might also be willing to accept the new along with the old. It may be easier to enjoy something we view as quaint (even if we still think it’s hot) but our willingness to talk about what turns us on and what type of explicit content we like to consume is hugely important in creating a safer and more fun world.
New Erotica Books on Amazon
I try to keep an eye out on the latest dirty books to appear on Amazon. It’s a fun way to see what’s new, whose still publishing, and what I might want to add to the site.
Looking at these six new books, the Lumberjack cover definitely stands out. I totally assumed it was about lumberjacks doing other manly lumberjacks, but on closer inspection it appears to be pretty straight. Still looks hot though.
If you have a favorite new book, send it over!
In Defense of Erotica
Have you ever thought about writing something real? You know, something important?
It’s not usually asked with real malice, but you can bet your sweet ass that I prickle all the same each time someone puts the question to me. I often nod and smile, saying I write all sorts of things, but I try to stick with what I know best, and sex is at the top of the list. Everyone has sex I’ll tell them, or at least most people do. And for so long we’ve left it out of our books, as if it’s not a giant part of the human experience.
But none of that is enough. That borderline polite conversation doesn’t get to the heart of it, and the heart is important. The blood is important. The breath is important.
Erotica is important, yes because sex is a part of the human experience, but of course so is water. We all eat and we all have to sleep too, so why don’t I write about those things instead? What is it about sex that stands out as something in need of examination through fiction?
And the answer is that we’ve perverted the sexual experience in the most traditional sense of the word. We’ve taken a normal part of human existence and loaded it up with so much baggage that the only way to unpack it is through myth, fiction, and dialog. Sure we can write textbooks, but they only give us part of the solution. Educating our minds as to facts is important, but we tell stories for a different reason.
Stories allow us to experience something without having to do it. There’s a great lie that says if we’re exposed to violence or sex through games, films, or novels that we’ll act them out, but in fact these tales have always allowed us to feel things first and then decide how to act. We know what’s it’s like to be burned by hubris without having to fly close to the sun. A textbook can tell you what an orgams is, but it can’t tell you what it feels like. A how-to-film can show you what sex looks like, but it can’t give you the emotional sensations of experiencing it.But a great novel or a great film can make your heart race and your palms sweat. A good book can pull tears from your eyes and laughter from your chest, the experiences almost as real as if they were happening to you. So when we write about sex, we let ourselves explore our own fantasies in a way that is safe, sane, and consensual before we test drive them with another person. Knowing what a blowjob is is vastly different than experiencing one, and writing and reading give us the chance to work through everything that surrounds it from emotions, to physical sensations and social repercussions.
Erotica isn’t just about the mechanics and it isn’t just about the morality. It lets us explore one of the largest and most complicated aspects of human experience with depth, compassion, and freedom. Dirty books don’t just tell us what a threesome is, they let us know what it feels like to let go and do something risky. Dirty books can let us know how to physically have anal sex, but can also advise us on what it might feel like emotionally, both during the act and also the next day. Through sex we experience love, pain, loss, elation, jealousy, anger, and fear. And if we don’t write about it (and therefore read it), with honesty and in detail, we are simply left with our cultural messages of guilt and shame.
I write erotica because I’ve been told from a young age that sex is dangerous and dirty. I write it because each one of us has been told that our desires and our wants make us broken, and I want to tear that lie apart as brutally and fully as possible. It’s scary to let ourselves go to places we have been told are dark, but if we’re ever going to unpack the baggage, reverse the damage, and emerge healthy and whole on the other side, we have to do it. I write erotica to turn you on and to turn myself on. I write it to explore desires that confuse and upset me, and I write it to fight back against cultural institutions and messaging that tell me those things are wrong. I write erotica to feel, to experience, and to learn.
Most of all, I write erotica to say one thing: you are okay. You are normal. The things you want and the things you desire make you human. And that is a message that most of us could hear as many times a day as it takes for us to believe it.
So pick up a dirty book and remind yourself. Flip through the pages one handed and know it is true. Close your eyes and let whatever comes to mind come as it will. Sexuality, with all of its complexities, is a part of what makes us human and alive.
And that is just as it should be.
Guy New York
June, 2015
Vintage Erotica Book Covers And New Ones
Is old smut better than new? It’s easy to get nostalgic about old dirty things, and I’ll admit that looking up these images, I’m pretty drawn to the vintage book covers.
But when I look closely, the biggest thing I see is a switch from aiming at an all male audience to a mostly female one. I suspect that’s been an actual shift in readers, but it’s interesting to note that in the old covers there are very few men at all. And they’re never the focus of attention.
I do lament the fact that our design programs are full of awful fonts, and it’s incredibly easy to make something horrible. But not matter what, it’s fun to compare.
What do you think?
Featured Review: 26 by Jonathan Kemp
Jonathan Kemp‘s 26 is a series of bittersweet vignettes: perfect slices of agony and ecstacy, ‘visions of excess’ burning brightly beyond the civility of language and manners, taking us on a journey of t
ranscendence, of sexual gratification and drug-induced otherness.
Explicit and, often, disturbing, his scenes lead us into dark places in search of meaning, exploring our isolation and our need for connection, our yearning for intense physical experience and our desire for oblivion. Kemp celebrates the raw, terrifying beauty of sexuality, showing its capacity to ‘make and unmake the world’ and to ‘speak a different tongue’.
He explores the hunger we cannot explain and draws with tenderness love unrequited, misplaced, and abandoned: ‘The difference between what we want and what we are able to do emerges with the slow, poisonous crawl of grief.’
He gives us poignant fragments of lost love and intense eroticism, underpinned by the repeated theme of the limits of language to convey human feeling, and the role of the body in remembering its past. It is the pulsing archivist, memories ‘rippling beneath the skin’.
‘I wake to find your presence still alighting on my skin, a fragment of your warmth, the weight of you still pressing, and a blurred memory of the dream’s end.’
Kemp shows us physical sensation as another language, our desire to tear open and ‘release something monstrous and wild, from the other side of language’. He urges that language can only ‘play games of hide and seek with what is really going on’ and voices his longing for ‘a new tongue that licks closer to the contour of bodies’.
Yet, amidst this despair at the inadequacy of language is Kemp’s thread of richly satisfying poetic prose. His images and metaphors blaze.
‘This is for when the blood turns black and burns you from the inside, for when you get the hunger – feel it unravelling within its long, dark spine of want… This is for then, for those crystalline moments when your body moulds to your desires, contoured by the red heat of longing…’
Kemp has created a masterpiece, haunting, unsettling and erotically compelling, 
moving the reader emotionally, intellectually and viscerally, our hearts captured and broken alongside those of his anonymous protagonists.
He gives us the night folding up like a sheet of paper, sliding itself into memory, ‘to be unfolded and relived, recounted and treasured’. In ’26’, Kemp has created a book of night dreams, vivid imaginings and shadows, half-remembrances and images seared on the skin. These pages close but the emotions he stirs remain close-caught.
‘There are places only the night knows, places only shadows can show us… I walk… looking for something, looking for something, looking for something… Forgive me for not having the words to describe it, this place in which I dwell. I have tried, I have tried. I have drenched myself in words and sensations, seeking a way to make them speak to one another. This is all I have to offer.’
How do you describe a book which has such power to manipulate the reader, to draw so deep from the well that you discover yourself anew?
–EMMANUELLE DE MAUPASSANT
(Review published with permission from: emmanuelledemaupassant.com)
Erotica Unleashed
It’s coming along! And what I mean by that is that I’ve set up the bones of this little project and I’m starting to flesh it out. It’s still buggy, a little slow, and is far shy of the 100 books I’d like to get up to in the next few months. In fact, most of the books on here are mine.
But welcome to Erotica Unleashed! My plan is to list 100 books, ten per category, of good, smart, and sexy erotica books. With so many titles to chose from, finding a good book can be overwhelming. I firmly believe the future will include great curation, and I hope I can add to it with this effort.
Please let me know if you have favorite books (or one of your own) that you’d like to see listed and I’ll check it out. In the meantime, keep coming back to see what I’ve added. It’s going to be a fun ride.
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