Sex and books: London's most erotic writers
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Thanks to Jane Edwardes, Rachel Halliburton, Nina Caplan, Jonathan Derbyshire. Portraits Simian Coates and Rob Greig
Posted: Tue Feb 26 2008 
30-21 | 20-11 | 10-1
24 Molly Parkin
‘I came to writing books because Hunter Davies, my editor on The Look pages of The Sunday Times, went to lunch with Blond & Briggs, a tiny ublishing house. They said they were looking for writers and he said, “Well, Mol’s driving us fucking mad in the office saying she wants to be doing novels now and she doesn’t want to be doing fashion. I’ll have a word.” So he had a word and they asked for a sample. I went home and wrote 750 words, the opening of my first novel “Love All”. The first line was: ‘“Lick it,’ he said, and took his teeth out, put them on the mantlepiece and lay down on the cold lino with his legs apart…” Feature continuesAdvertisement‘Blond & Briggs didn’t like it, but their secretary started reading it and she said to them: “This is fantastic, no women are writing like this.” The only woman who was writing anything vaguely sexy was Jackie Collins, who had just done “The World is Full of Married Men”. I hadn’t read that; it was too trashy for me.’
‘Love All’ was an immediate hit, and the reviews were mostly good. ‘Quite the funniest novel I’ve read in a long time, written with the lightest of touches and a mirthful sense of its own libidinousness,’ said The Daily Telegraph. ‘Molly’s approach to sex is that it is fun and funny,’ said Cosmopolitan. ‘I did have a negative review in The Irish Times which said it was “disgusting”,’ she recalls. ‘My novels have been called “downright filth” and “outright porn”, but that doesn’t bother me. I choose to call them “comic erotica”.’
The twinkly eyed Parkin says she’s always found the raunchy side of life very funny. ‘I couldn’t wait to get up in the morning to start writing; I would laugh out loud as I wrote. Everything was autobiographical. I had a lot to draw on: I’d had most of Real Madrid in my bed and I’d fucked an entire rugby team on a trip to Scotland. I even used to sleep in older men’s beds when I was still a virgin. I always managed to pop an 80-year-old in [a novel] if I could. They may not be good at getting erections but they are very good at cunnilingus; you know, gums on soft tissue.’
Parkin’s second novel, ‘Up Tight’ (1975), got a lot of publicity on the back of fashion photographer Harry Peccinotti’s provocative cover photo. ‘I told him I wanted a close-up of knickers and I wanted broderie Anglaise knickers, but he got some French model who was wearing see-through knickers so Hatchards kept it under the counter.
‘Somebody said to me once: “You changed the face of publishing.” Well, I jumped from publisher to publisher to get the best deal. In me they had an author who was willing to go out on the road and do signings. Up until that time it had been quite a rare thing to have a female author and get her to do things. I loved it: this was my public.’
The last of her novels, ‘Breast Stroke’ (1983), was the hardest to write. ‘The alcohol had taken over by then,’ she says, ‘and I only had a fortnight to write it. I did that with chocolate and cigarettes living in a hovel in Wales after my second divorce and my mother was dying. Things weren’t good, but that didn’t affect the writing.
‘I never planned the books; you don’t know quite where you are going. Some characters who you think are going to be your main characters fall by the wayside, and others who are in the shadows come forward. Then suddenly someone is fucking someone you never imagined!’
Interview: Maggie Davis. Portrait Rob Greig.
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7 comments
Stewart Home is a genius -- if you don't like his books I will follow you around and annoy you -- forever. Starting now.
No two people will ever agree on a list of this sort, but as the author of thirty erotic novels I feel I at least have a better grip on the subject than most. Aside from the controversial and almost certainly incorrect attribution of "Walter's" work to Ashbee, Freud and Ellis seem very peculiar choices in that neither was an eroticist at all. A few other entries seem eccentric, or somewhat random, but in general the list meets with my approval. ;o)
One other thing... It may be true to say that anyone can be pornographic, although Mary Whitehouse might have struggled, but it is not true to say that anyone can write erotica, or pornography if you prefer the term. Just as with even romance or horror, it may appear simple but to do it at all well requires both dedication and a great deal of background knowledge.
"Walter" was not Henry Spencer Ashbee. Only Ian Gibson thought they were the same, which only shows that he has no notion of chronology,and a cloth ear for writers' styles.
Walter has been convincingly identified as a military officer, of no distinction except for having written his memoirs.
Ashbee was a bibliophile, and a much better writer than "Walter" (and utterly different in style), but he had no sexual experience.
Ashbee quite possibly died a virgin, while "Walter" quite clearly was not writing porno fantasy, but real - and often unflattering - experience, a sort of sexual Henry Mayhew.
You are missing out on a book that makes your toes curl!
IN MY PRAYERS WITH MY LEGS WIDE OPEN
By Jatana A. Williams
Wow, what a title and the same goes for the content of this novel! Miss Thang has undeniably written a spell-binding story that covers her difficult and haunting childhood days along with the various sexual trysts that continuously occur during her adult years. This novel is one of surprise, surprise, surprise.
The main character, Jasmine loves to have multitudes of passionate sexual encounters with Mr. UPS, Mr Coffee, Mr. Gas Pump and Mr. Grocery Store, even though Mr. Husband is surprisingly close by and considered to be super fine. Her sexual desires are whacked and she believes it stems from a demonic curse placed on her deceased grandmother many years before. This intriguing tale of sex and pleasure will have the reader clinging to page after page because of its shocking revelations.
Be prepared to be mesmerized when reading this testimonial work of fiction because once you start the read, you will be hooked. The author made the statement, "Never let life take away your music." In this novel, the music is definitely playing a potent beat by beat. Zane has some serious competition with Jatana Anita Williams now on the literary scene, THAT'S FOR SURE!
Reviewed by Emily Means-Willis
Literary reviewer and author of "Looking for that Silver Spoon"
In My Prayers with My Legs Wide Open
By Jatana A. Williams
Paperback 116 pages
April 2008/Asta Publications
ISBN 10: 1-934947-08-3
ISBN 13: 978-1-934947-08-1
Trade Paperback Retail Price: $14.95
wow
Why is Anais Nin not on this list?
What about Rofl Lundgren and his erotic tales?