October 17, 2016

A Brilliant Book in a Painful Season

Colson Whitehead’s THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD. First posted at Goodreads: The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead My rating: 5 of 5 stars Up there with WOLF HALL as a spectacular historical novel (one of the best I’ve read), but so so different. Because not only are the characters fictional, but the armature it’s built on — the … Continue reading A Brilliant Book in a Painful Season →

January 21, 2016

Sex is Good to Think With

The historian Robert Darnton said that somewhere once, in homage to Claude Lévi-Strauss, who said that food was good to think with. Anyway, it’s what I’ve always thought, it’s sort of the mainspring of all my erotic and romance writing, and it’s rather taken a beating in the current post FSoG climate. So I’m grateful … Continue reading Sex is Good to Think With →

November 26, 2015

Carrie and her Readers

When you have an idea for a book — really have an idea — it’s more like the idea has you. Or anyway that’s what happened to me when I thought I might like to tell a BDSM story in the voice of a smart, wisecracking, highly literate San Francisco bike messenger. Carrie isn’t real, of … Continue reading Carrie and her Readers →