Most Important Movie Sex Scenes

You all know I love movie erotica as well as written erotica, so I just wanted to flag this really cool list. The Thirty Most Important Sex Scenes in movie history.

I'm not sure I agree with all of them, but it is definitely a nice start. Nice to see Bound on there, a film I've mentioned before.

Also, just a reminder, my new short Deja Vu is now available for purchase at Amazon. Check it out. http://www.amazon.com/Deja-Vu-Cuckolding-Shorts-Book-ebook/dp/B00QE2B1ZG

Oh, and keep an eye on this blog. I'll have another a link to another of my old favorite alt.sex.stories submission in a few days.

Deju Vu Available for Pre-Order

I have another short story now available at Amazon for pre-order. I really like this one. It is of my newer shorts, and is more clever than some of the stories I wrote years ago. Still, it is a short, so don't expect a ton of character development of an extensive plot arc. But it is some of clever. And a great cover designed by Kenny Wright. Best of all, only $0.99!

Bill and Jessie are celebrating their tenth anniversary when they run into Bill's college roommate. Chad is so handsome and charming that Jessie knows she needs to have him. Saying no should be easy for Bill, but he and Chad have a long and twisted past and this is not the first time Bill has had to deal with Chad's intoxicating effect on even the most sober-minded of women.

Available at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Deja-Vu-Cuckolding-Shorts-Book-ebook/dp/B00QE2B1ZG

Happy Birthday Scarlett Johansson

Scarlett Johansson was born thirty years ago today in New York. Happy birthday gorgeous!

Ben Boswell Update

Working away on various projects. I don't think I'll tease any of the longer projects quite yet since I not sure which will be finished first, but definitely have some good stuff in the works.

I will be putting out another short in a few weeks, more on that soon when I have a cover to show off.

I've gotten some nice feedback from people about my last book, The Surrogate Master. Reviewer Max Lemberger, writes:

The Surrogate Master is an incredible book worthy of the highest praise. I'd even go so far to say it is an important book. While the content is erotica with light BDSM, the context is about infidelity and the havoc it wreaks in a relationship.

That is the sort praise that gives me the motivation to keep writing and writing.

That said, my dreams of a 50 Shades of Grey style breakthrough seems to have wait for the next novel. Surrogate Master is selling fine, but not as well as Honeymoon Hazards, which is, you know, just a silly romp.

Maybe some readers are turned off by the handcuffs on the cover? Maybe the whole BDSM genre (of which Surrogate Master is really just barely a part of) is saturated? I have no idea. Not that it really matters. I write, as I think I've mentioned before, what I want to read rather than what I think will sell, but even still, curious.

Favorite Charts of the Day

From the much maligned FiveThirtyEight:

Here is a graph of the age of men women find most attractive:

As women get older, the age of the men they find most attractive increases as well. And for men:

Men always find 20 year olds most attractive.

You could extend that back down to 13 year olds and up to 80 year olds and find the same thing, I suspect. Not sure what that says about men, women, societal definitions of beauty or what. But nice to see quasi-empirical confirmation of what I've always suspected.

The Surrogate Master Available For Pre-Order

Title of the post says it all. Book will be released on November 7. http://www.amazon.com/Surrogate-Master-Ben-Boswell-ebook/dp/B00P3FDIE2

And while you're at it, pick up a copy of Kenny Wright's newest: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00P37KQ3G

Coming Soon: The Surrogate Master

My newest book is in production! Cover design by the always amazing Kenny Wright (who has a new book coming soon as well!).

The Surrogate Master

Would you trust a stranger you met online to repair your marriage? Would you be comfortable with him knowing your wife’s most intimate secrets? Would you be willing to let him come into your home, your bedroom?

When his wife Rachel returns to work after being a stay-at-home mom for five years, Max knows they will have to make some adjustments. What he hasn’t counted on is Jack, Rachel’s new boss. Handsome, aggressive, and domineering, Jack awakens some long dormant desires within Rachel.

As Max watches, helpless, the transformation in his wife, he has to deal with his own insecurities and fears. As their marriage faces its ultimate challenge, both Rachel and Max have to confront their pasts, their fears, and their fantasies… but they aren’t alone.

They meet a stranger online, a man who has an uncanny ability to see both Max and Rachel for who they really are. Tommy offers to help. But what is his game? Is he just an unconventional marriage therapist? Or does he represent an even greater danger than Jack?

Maybe My Favorite Story: Winning (Amanda) through Intimidation

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Revised Short Coming Out

Over the past few month, I pulled down several of my better short stories from literotica. I've been working through them, re-editing them, revising them in some case, and generally cleaning them up and improving the quality of the stories.

I am re-issuing the first of these as a short on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Cottage-Cuckolding-Shorts-Book-ebook/dp/B00NY1CQAE. It is now available for pre-order.

If you've already read it, you'll find only a few minor improvements. Some of the other stories will be more thoroughly re-written, but I thought this one held up pretty well.

Either way it is only $0.99, so give it a shot. The cover is worth the price by itself!

Good News and Funny Cat Picture

First the good news. My latest book, Honeymoon Hazards has been doing very well on Amazon recently. For the first time, I have title in the top 100 best sellers in the erotica category. Not 50 Shades of Grey territory, but still neat. So thank you all.

If you haven't bought it yet, you can get it here: http://www.amazon.com/Honeymoon-Hazards-Ben-Boswell-ebook/dp/B00N84NIRM

Now, and more importantly, a funny cat picture. I love this one because my dog used to always be sniffing around my cat and this is what I always imagined he wanted to do there. My cat never allowed it, but this one here seems a little... and I mean a little... more tolerant. Happy Caturday.

More funny cat pictures are... well... everywhere. But I found this particular one at The Chive.

Honeymoon Hazards is Available!

My new book, Honeymoon Hazards is out and available for purchase at Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Honeymoon-Hazards-Ben-Boswell-ebook/dp/B00N84NIRM

So take a break from looking at stolen Jennifer Lawrence pics and check it out!

Honeymoon Hazards Cover and Blurb

My new book is in final production. Below you can see the lovely cover designed by Kenny Wright as well as the description of the book. It should be available on Amazon some time early next week.

Honeymoon Hazards

After being together for seven years, John and Claire marry and jet off to beautiful Hawaii for their honeymoon. It is a paradise of hard bodies in tiny bikinis, mixed drinks consumed in the hot sun, and a resort built for private encounters.

But when John is struck down with a stomach flu, he can do nothing but sit on his balcony and watch others have fun. Discovering his inner voyeur, he finds that spying on a resort full of sexy and adventurous guests is an enjoyable distraction.

That is, until he spots his new bride flirting with an oh-so-handsome stranger by the pool. Things really heat up when Claire disappears from view, and he can't find the stranger, either. As John’s imagination runs wild, the line between fantasy and lust blurs until he can no longer tell where his worst fears end and his fondest desires begin.

Is Erotica Realistic?

I am finishing off edits on my new book -- tentative titled Honeymoon Hazards -- so I've been thinking a lot about writing in the abstract.

One of the things that I try to do when I write is create characters and reactions that feel realistic. I think a lot of people confuse realism with commonality.

A story, whether long or short, is inherently about an uncommon situation. No one wants to read a story about an ordinary day. What's more, no one wants to read a story that develops in real time. So as a writer, you're inherently creating something that is "unrealistic" in a very important sense -- you are writing about an exceptional situation and really, usually, only focusing on certain key moments.

Most of my writing revolves around the theme of sexual betrayal and exploration. My characters cheat on their partners, they get into inappropriate relationships, and they seek out novel sexual experiences. All of these things tend to resolve themselves over the course of a couple of hundred pages as the characters struggle with their emotions, grow (usually), and reach some sort of accommodation with their new situation. The speed at which all of this occurs is also unrealistic. Again, a story is about focusing in on those transitions, not in all the down-time in between.

Finally, a lot of my characters tend to have exaggerated physical attributes. The women are all beautiful. The men handsome. There are an uncommon number of sexual dynamos in the narrative. Now, I'll admit there is a lot of fantasy there. Writing about beautiful people having exuberant sex is more fun that writing about out-of-shape people have missionary sex under the covers. But, more importantly, I tend to write in the first person. I just feel more comfortable with it, and first person narrative is inherently in someone's head. Since I am writing about attraction and emotions (lust, jealousy, insecurity, etc.), there is is inevitably going to be some exaggeration. In those moments of first attraction, we notice and exaggerate certain attributes. We see that long, silky hair, the full breasts, and not the thick ankles or beginning of crows feet at the eyes.

But given those factors, I do try to capture some essence of realism, or truth. People do cheat. Their partners often do forgive them. In my stories, the timelines are compressed. Characteristics are magnified, and yet I'd like to think that the characters feel plausible and whole.

I'll post an update about Honeymoon Hazards later this week. But it is COMING SOON!

New Book Coming Soon

Hi folks, sorry for the radio silence of late. In a post about six weeks ago, I mentioned that I was having a bit of writers block. I ended up putting the book I was completing on hold and turning to a new project.... which, amazingly, I just finished up. Well, a first draft at least, but a pretty solid one. I am vaguely hopeful I can get it out by the beginning of September.

The story is firmly lodged in the "wife watching" genre. Newlyweds on their honeymoon get into all sorts of adventures. I'll keep updating you as it moves forward.

Plot Roadblocks

So, I've been writing a long time. I've probably over the years begun well over a 100 stories. Maybe 200. I dunno. A lot of them are just fleeting thoughts. Most of them are in the "slut wife" genre. Wife goes somewhere and something happens. Wife's car breaks down and something happens. Wife is sequestered on a jury and something happens.

A lot of those just fizzle out because, well, I don't really have anything beyond the premise.

But I have two stories sets of stories that I've run at at least a half dozen times, made some decent progress, and then fizzled out. The first is, basically, the Captain Ron story, or some variation of it. Captain Ron is a silly 1992 Kurt Russell/Martin Short comedy. Short's character, a wimpy landlubber, inherits a yacht. He hires Kurt Russell, Ron, who is sort of a vaguely lovable scoundrel, to captain the ship. Hilarity ensues. Sort of. Pirates, guerillas, a storm. You know, a bunch of set pieces. But what always struck my lurid side was the idea of Ron taking advantage of Short's wife or teenage daughter. There is a little tension there, but the movie is more interested in action slapstick.

Or maybe the seed of my concept was the 1989 movie Dead Calm with a young Nicole Kidman, Billy Zane, and Sam Neill. I won't give that one away in case you haven't seen it. It is a taut thriller and Nicole Kidman is very sexy, as the screen cap below suggests.

Anyway, I've written several stories that have gotten well into the thousands of words with some variation of a husband, wife, and a ship. They all have fizzled out.

Similarly, I've started at least a half dozen stories with the premise of a couple snowbound in a cabin with either friends or stranded hikers or hunters... they all fizzle out. Not sure why. For one of them I wrote well over 120 pages... and then it fizzled. Very frustrating.

(If you like that snowbound theme, though, definitely check out Kenny Wright's Cool With Her. It is much lighter and good natured than anything I'd write, but it is a lot of fun and beautifully written and very, very sexy.)

 I guess I am sort of in the mode of thinking of fizzled stories because I've had a bit of writer's block on my latest novel. It isn't quite the same as those other pieces. I actually have it pretty well plotted out from start to finish, but I've been having some trouble staying motivated. Sometimes that happens to me when I have a story too-well figured out. I often write better when I am still discovering things about my characters as I go along. Anyway, I'll get it done, but it is funny how a story that can seem so compelling, so insistent on being written, can suddenly become a bit of a chore to complete.

The Fourth Ring

One of my favorite stories from the alt.sex.stories days -- and if you don't know what that is, you should just get off my lawn -- was by an author who went by Hunter Jackson. He put out this story back in 1995, and the text version (which I'll link to shortly) even has his Prodigy account -- and if you don't know what that is, you should... fuck it... I'm old.

Anyway, it is a straight cuckold set-up:

A typical Friday. Too many deadlines, too many phone calls, too many emergencies. Although a few of these deadlines and emergencies were the result of my representation of Contrax Industries, I was still looking forward to lunch with Contrax's president, Rick Robertson. While Rick always attended to business, he was also a bit of a "rounder," and damn proud of it. Given my rather staid sexual relationship with my wife, Anne, I enjoyed living vicariously through Rick's exploits.
This lunch fit the normal pattern. Rick and I spent the first 45 minutes analyzing and dissecting the antitrust implications of a possible acquisition by Contrax. After beating that dead horse one last time, Rick ordered us a couple of Absolute Citron's with soda and embarked on a recounting of his latest conquests.
"Married pussy!" Rick exclaimed.
"What do you mean, Rick?" The non-sequitor confused me.
"Married pussy is the easiest, hottest, wettest pussy in the world."
"Rick, as a married man, I can speak with some experience and certainty on this subject. Married pussy is anything but easy, and rarely hot or wet." My reply was authoritative, but in retrospect I led with my chin on this one.
"Bill, for such a smart lawyer whom charges $350 an hour, you're a total dumbshit."
I like Rick, but he's also a bit abrasive and arrogant. Sometimes he can really push my buttons.
Rick continued, "when I speak of married pussy, I'm talking about fucking pussies that are married to other men. More times than not, a married woman is dying for a thorough fucking from a real man, not just the weekly ten minute diddle they're used to from their husbands."
"Well, I imagine that there are some dissatisfied wives out there, but as your friend and attorney, I strongly advise against propositioning married woman. You'll end up with, at least a bruised cheek from her slap and, at worst, excruciating pain from her knee to your groin."
Rick chuckled, but quickly dismissed my cautions. "Bill, you don't even have a clue. In the past three months, I've approached eight different married woman, and I'm batting a thousand. I've concluded that there isn't a married woman out there, who given the opportunity, would turn down a sexual romp with a good-looking man."
"I don't know what world you've been living in, Rick, but I suspect that if you approached any of the married women that I know your batting average would quickly drop to the point that you'd be sent back down to the minors."
"Like who?" Rick stared at me confidently. I was totally dumbfounded. I didn't expect to be challenged on this point. My mind went blank so I tried to avoid the question. "Look, Rick, you know damn well that there are so many frigid wives living in the suburbs that your theory can't hold water."
"Who?" Rick wasn't going to let the question slide.
My mind was slowly starting to reason again. I didn't really want to give Rick the names of any of the married women that I know. Rick's the type of guy who jumps at every challenge. I certainly didn't want him hitting on the wives of any of my friends. Common sense suggested that the safest thing to do was rely on my wife, Anne.
Anne and I have been married for twelve years, with two kids to show for the venture. Anne is not exactly frigid, but she's also rather conservative when it comes to sex. Pretty much straight intercourse, with very rare oral sex, and certainly no anal. From the perspective of frequency, we will usually have sex 3 or 4 times a month. I knew that Anne would never stray. In fact, she was a virgin when we married.
"Well, Rick, like my wife, for example.."

You can imagine, I suspect what happens next. And no, he doesn't fix the cable.

It is a sexy, straight-forward piece. You can find the rest of it here: http://www.textfiles.com/sex/EROTICA/0/4thring.txt, and probably many other places as well. He wrote another story, Insemination in September, which I can't find anywhere online at the moment, but it wasn't as good. The Fourth Ring though is a genuine classic. It was definitely a big influence on me at the time. As far as I know, those were his only two stories, but I'd be delighted to be corrected on that score.

Anyway, Hunter, wherever you might be, you have at least one fan out there who remembers your work fondly.

Amazon Reviews Bleg and Other Programming Notes

Just a quick note. I love the feedback I've been getting by email for Whatever It Takes. I'd been a little worried about how people would react to it, but so far most readers seem to have enjoyed it. If I may, though, I would ask readers who enjoyed the book to also leave a review on Amazon about it. There is a lot of, well, crap out there, and many potential buyers need reader reviewers to reassure them that a book is worth their time and money. I'm not looking for false praise. But if you did like the book, in addition to letting me know personally, I'd be grateful if you could also leave a review on Amazon.

Also, in the next few days, I am going to post links to some of my other favorite stories from the alt.sex.stories days from the 1990s, and I'll give a shout out to my literary namesake... so keep checking in!

Special Deal on Two Sides of Terri

If you haven't read my first book, Two Sides of Terri, yet, or if you have a friend that you haven't quite been able to convince to buy it, there is a special offer going on for the next two days at Amazon.

Starting today, Terri will be on sale for just $0.99! It's not a bargain, it's a steal. Outright, no-kidding, grand larceny.

I should also note that it would make a great gift for friends and family alike. It is a little known fact, but surveys show that most people, when polled, say that "erotic fiction" is their favorite type of present.

Get it here, get it now. http://www.amazon.com/Two-Sides-Terri-Ben-Boswell-ebook/dp/B00HSCMZTW

Future Plans

With Whatever It Takes finally out -- I hear there are still a few copies available at Amazon ;-) -- I figured I'd update folks about my other projects.

The first two things I want to mention are that I decided that I wanted to revisit some of my favorite old stories originally posted on Literotica. The first is The Crush. I wrote about this story in an earlier post. That's one of those stories that I always felt turned out well, and yet could have been so much better. It is a pretty conventional cuckolding story, but isn't rooted in humiliation, but rather in selfishness. And the main character, whose nickname is Annie thanks to a striking resemblance to a young Ann-Margret, has always been one of my favorites. For those of you too young to have any idea who Ann-Margret it, here's a taste:

The second is a piece called Inception... It is also a cuckolding story and very much inspired by the movie of the same name. I'd always planned that one as a trilogy, so pulling it down from Lit and thinking about the second and third parts make sense.

I have two other pieces in the works, both of them much closer in tone to The Two Sides of Terri than Whatever It Takes. One is about two-thirds done. I really hope that have that finished, in draft form at least, within a few weeks. The other is still mostly in my imagination, but my imagination is almost demanding I make time for it immediately! Anyway, both stories are grounded, like Terri, in a relationship where both the husband and wife work to explore each other's fantasies and needs, even when that causes more than a little angst.

And finally in terms of writing projects, Whatever It Takes was also conceived from pretty early on as a trilogy, but then again so was The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, until, you know, no one went to see it.

Anyway, lots of stuff in the works. I was pretty swamped at work these last few months, but will definitely be blogging more as well, so keep checking in for updates and other things, including a couple of unfinished pieces, false starts that never quite came together.

Also, if you did happen to read Whatever It Takes, and you liked it, I'd be delighted if you'd give me a review at Amazon. Those are more important than you can imagine to a book's success.

Whatever It Takes

My new book is finally out. As I've mentioned several times, it is quite different from Two Sides of Terri, but I really like how it turned out. Description follows.

Whatever It Takes 

Daniel and Kris are as white bread as they come. Together since junior high, they have two kids, a house in the suburbs, and no excitements in their lives. Things change when Kris' little sister Jessi moves in. Jessi is everything Kris isn't, reckless, promiscuous, and mixed up with very bad people. As their two orbits intersect, Daniel and Kris get dragged into Jessi's world of drug dealers, strip clubs, and prostitution. Can they survive the dangers? And even if they do, will their marriage? 

Fueled by their love for each other, and drawing on a strength and resourcefulness they never realized they had, Daniel and Kris are desperate to recover their old lives. To do so, they will do whatever it takes!

Available at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Whatever-Takes-Ben-Boswell-ebook/dp/B00KABTO42

Erotica and Genre Fiction

The funny thing about erotica is how we tend to classify it according to the type of sex involved. Is it a story of romantic sex? Rough sex? Group sex? Gay sex? We label it by particular fetish being explored -- cuckold, interracial, BDSM. That often makes sense, because in the final analysis, in much of erotica the story -- the plot -- is really pretext. It is just an excuse to throw together the people that you want to have sex.

But I've been exploring recently, at least part of the time, writing in a particular genre and having the sex be genuinely germane to the plot. Now, I don't want to make it seem like the sex is an afterthought. It isn't. But I guess my idea recently has been to try to write more stories where the sex serves the plot rather than the plot serving the sex.

Part of my motivation is that when I think of really sexy moments and characters, say in film, they rarely come from the world of porn. Rather than come from interesting fiction where the sex somehow seems organic. Think of Bound. One of my favorite movies of all time. Jennifer Tilly and Gina Gershon set the screen in fire, but it is very much in service of the plot.

Or think of Linda Fiorentino in The Last Seduction.

Or Kathleen Turner in Body Heat.

Yeah, I like modern film noir. 

Anyway, my new book, Whatever It Takes -- which will be out in the next few weeks (still working on final edits) -- tried to be in that mold. A crime thriller with lots of sex. Keep an eye out. I am getting close on that one.

But I have an idea for a science fiction book as well. We'll see how that idea develops.

Sucking you in

I don't mean literally. I mean, what is it about a book, particularly an erotic book, that sucks you in, makes you need to read the next page?

For me, it is often a relationship at risk. You can populate your story with an endless array of hard-bodied, sexually adventurous characters, but that's just a story about dicks, tits, and ass. Ultimately, that is a yawn.

What gets me is always when there is something emotional at stake. Unrequited love. Risky sex. Relationships tested. That is where eroticism comes from, no?

Let me know what you think.

I started this blog to, ideally, get some discussion going. Help me out. What makes a story hot for you?

New Book Coming Soon

Sorry for the lack of posts. I've been working hard on a couple of new books. One of them is now basically done and is in editing, so it should be out reasonably soon... definitely by the end of the month, maybe sooner.

My new book is something of a departure for me. There are many of the same themes I've written about before: A sexy wife, other men. But the story is richer, deeper, than anything I've written.

At its core it is a crime thriller. Think a pornified version of Carl Hiassen. There are strippers, drug dealers, and in the middle of it all, a white bread couple desperately trying to keep their heads above water. It has been fun to write. I hope people like it.

More updates coming soon!

The Genesis of a Story

The most common question I've been asked over the year is where my stories come from.  The short answer is, "it depends." But the more thorough response is that my stories usually begin with a single thought or scenario or character or concept. In truth, I don't always remember the original nugget after the story has been written. Especially in the case of longer works, that original concept or idea is often so buried under later developments as to be invisible.

But one of my favorite of my own stories -- The Crush -- has that nugget right up front. It is the first sentence of the piece:

What would you do if your wife told you she had a crush on another man and that she wanted to act on it?

That is all the story began with. But then I asked myself, well, what kind of woman would say this? And why? What sort of relationship is this where she would say it? And the characters and story just grew out of those questions.

Btw, Annie, the main character in the Crush stories is one of my favorite of my slutty wives, especially in her version of the story (one of the few I've written from the female POV).

At some point I want to check back in with Annie... 

The Nature of the Genre

So, I write most in the "naughty wife" genre, although as my friend Kenny Wright notes, my "tastes lean closer to the “cuckold” side of the spectrum." Why is that? Where do my stories come from?

I don't think there is any great mystery here, but it is worth exploring a little. So, there are a lot of "naughty wife" stories out there. It is really one of the most popular erotica genres.

Like many other forms of popular erotica, it addresses transgressive sexual behavior, the sort of stuff that turns us on precisely because it is out of the ordinary, exists largely in the realm of imagination. But this is a weird category because, in truth, sex outside of marriage is far from uncommon. There is nothing really, fundamentally transgressive about a woman having an affair. It happens all the time.

I would argue that in this case, the stories I write are based not in their exoticism, but in their commonness. What do I mean?

Well, look, many men feel/worry/believe that they somehow married out of their league. Sometimes that is objective reality. More often it speaks to insecurities. But is is a common sensation. And if you feel like you've married out of your league, then it is inevitable to think that sooner of later your wife will, you know, wake up and trade up.

It is a dark, weird thought. It is the kind of thing that men immediately reject when they focus on it consciously. What does "trading up" mean? A hotter guy? A better earner? A more accomplished fuck? Most crudely, a bigger tool? But the sentiment isn't about conscious calculation, it is about inchoate emotions.

Anyway, I think my writing tends to be grounded in that very common, completely absurd, and yet brutally compelling worry that the women who love us are somehow settling for less... for now... but not forever.

Vacation From Our Marriage

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Two Sides of Terri Published

My very first novella was just released. You can find it at Amazon under Two Sides of Terri.

I am really, really pleased with how it turned out. Give it a shot.

Here is the description:

Two Sides of Terri

Bill has just about the perfect life. Good paying job. Lovely home. Perfect children. And most of all, he has his wife Terri--smart, funny, great with the kids. Thing is, she's a good girl trapped in a bad girl's body. Blonde, busty, and devastatingly beautiful, she makes him want to do dirty things--things you don't admit to wanting from the girl-next-door.

Or so he thought.

It starts with a revelation about Chucky, a past boyfriend, and everything he thought he knew about his sweet wife unravels. He becomes obsessed with learning more about this other side of Terri--and everything he learns points back to Chucky, a man she couldn't say no to. Does he dare invite her past back into their present? And if he did, would she now be able to say no?

Because He's Watching Reviews

I recently read Kenny Wright's most recent book, Because He's Watching: Ian's Obsession. It is an alternate version of Kirsten McCurran's book Because He's Watching. As I understand it, the two books were written as part of a collaboration, though Kenny waited some time before publishing his version.

This is sort of a joint review of the two books. There are some, I guess, some modest spoilers, so I would definitely encourage you to read the books first. They're worth the time.

Anyway, I have a soft spot for this sort dueling narratives approach. Two of my favorite stories I've written work the same angle -- The Crush and The Crush: Annie's Tale (I feel very mature for having resisted calling it Annie's Tail). Part of the reason I think this works particularly well in erotica is that good erotica is, in my opinion, very challenging to write from a third person perspective. (I'll explain in a moment.) So if you want to really give different characters their due, it often works to have the stories told explicitly from different perspectives. 

The issue, I think, is that the erotica I find interesting is that which deals fundamentally with flawed observers. I mean, that strikes me as the most interesting dynamic. People don't have a clue, for the most part, about what their real motivations are. (I don't claim this is my insight. Thanks Freud.) And under the influence of lust or jealousy or anger or resentment, their judgments become even more flawed. I think consciously writing from the perspective of an imperfect narrator can capture that. It is much harder, I think, to do so from a third person perspective. At that point, why is the narrator flawed? As both a reader and writer, I always hate fiction that requires the narrator to withhold information s/he ought to know.

In these two stories, Kenny takes the husband's (Ian's) perspective. Kirsten takes the wife's (Emily's). And they both do a very nice job telling a sexy story. I think ultimately, Ian is a more interesting character. He's more flawed, more introspective. I read Ian's side of the story first, which may be clouding my judgment. Emily, perhaps by design, is a bit of a shallow character. She's not very self-aware. 

Anyway, this is one of those stories where the husband is turned on by the idea of his wife being with another man. We don't get a real sense of where this fantasy originates for Ian. It doesn't seem to be any sort of eroticized fear. We don't get the sense that any formative experience particularly fed this fantasy. It just turns him on. And that's okay. It is his kink. But even still, I think I'd like a better insight into his mind.

I am less willing to give Emily a pass. She knows Ian wants her to do it. But why is she willing? Sometimes it just seems like she likes the attention from Ray (the "Bull" in this scenario). Sometimes she seems like she's actually attracted. But more often she seems to say and act as if she's really just doing it because it turns Ian on. That suggests a weird degree of passivity, especially since she does not just wait for Ian to contrive encounters, but actively plans them herself. She just strikes me as too aggressive for this to be mostly or even largely about Ian's desires. But maybe that's the point of writing Emily that way?

I would also have liked to see the narratives diverge more. Part of the fun of this dual approach is that you can flesh out the motivations of the characters by exposing private actions and information. And indeed, there are a couple of minor new plot points in each story, and one pretty significant one that comes out in Ian's story. But I think the authors missed an opportunity here to give readers of both stories some value added by introducing plot elements that really you could only fully appreciate if you read both. An Easter Egg if you will.

Finally, just thinking about the plot, there are various places where both authors hint at a coming confrontation that never quite occurs. It isn't quite as if they've place a gun on the mantle, but more that they sort of hint that there might be a gun there. Or maybe I just wanted there to be a gun? My stories tend to feature more explicit conflict and confrontation than Kenny's. I tend to be pessimistic of these extramarital dalliances, seeing a lot of risk and danger in addition to the potential excitement. My characters are more jealous, more duplicitious, more manipulative than his. Perhaps that just reflects my darker view of human nature.

But that said, these are a fun, sexy pair of books, and definitely worth a read.

A New Direction

So, I'm excited. In a few days my first long-form fiction will be published. It isn't quite a novel, or maybe it is. I guess it depends on where you draw the line between and novel and novella. At 43,000 words, more or less, it is definitely the longest story I've ever written.

In many ways, Two Sides of Terri -- that's the title -- is different from anything I've written. The characters are richer. The narrative arc is stronger. It is also less focused on themes of betray and more of exploration. I don't want to give away too much, but I think it is a nice sexy story that will both please fans of my earlier short work, but also interest and please a new audience that finds some of my earlier too dark.

On the other hand, Two Sides of Terri is very much an evolution for me. Same kinds of themes as before, sex outside the bounds of marriage; a strong, smart woman with hidden passion; jealousy and fear.

I'll follow up in the couple of day with cover art and a link to the purchase options.