In corporate interviews, it’s advised by recruiters to put a positive spin on every question that’s asked. So if a hiring manager wants an admission of what a candidate’s “weaknesses” are, the potential employee is coached to say something like, “I’m always having to be told to get out of the office and take some vacation!” Part of my […]
Taking A Position
Have you seen the movie Showgirls? Yeah, I know. It received wretched reviews, was universally bashed by critics and received the Razzie® for worst picture of the year and worst picture of the decade. Egad. In spite of all the bashing, though, I do have to say that I thought the sex scenes were . […]
In Defense Of Purple Prose
Fifty two years ago today in Britain, on November 2, 1960, a significant jury ruling was made in defense of D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterly’s Lover as a book whose literary merit amounted to a “public good” and did not “deprave or corrupt persons likely to read it.” The trial, known as R v Penguin Books Ltd, […]
The Pain Game
Following up on Liz’s post from yesterday, let’s talk about pain in erotic romance. This is a topic from which some will run away in fear, so it’s particularly suitable for today since it’s Halloween. Hollywood “erotic thrillers” have explored this topic thoroughly in several movies, good, bad, and forgettable. The first thing that comes to mind […]
Seductive Scent
While conducting research for one of my historical erotic romances, I studied the art of perfume making extensively. It’s an intoxicating lesson. As Mandy Aftel says in her excellent book Essence and Alchemy: A Book of Perfume, “Fragrance has the instantaneous and invisible power to penetrate consciousness with pure pleasure. Scent reaches us in ways that […]