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And in case you think that wasn't bad enough ...

Here (long overdue for an outing on this blog) is a NYMag piece about the women who write dinosaur erotica:

Alara Branwen and Christie Sims met in the dorms at Texas A&M. Alara worked at a supermarket and Christie worked as a tutor -- until they discovered how lucrative erotic fiction about women having sex with dinosaurs could be. After e-book titles like Taken By the T-Rex and Ravished by the Triceratops drew attention from Jezebel, E!, and the Daily Mail, we e-mailed the duo to ask how they're holding up, and how two Texan girls in their early twenties got into dinosaur porn.
Go on, hop over there and see if you think A Bird in Hand belongs in the same genre bucket, I dare you!

26 Comments

1:

Good heavens!

At first I thought that this had to be a November Fool's joke. Then I followed the link.

There was a real website there. "Taken by T-Rex" wasn't even the most bizarre title. Clearly this was a more elaborate prank.

So I went to Amazon.com. Surely it wouldn't lie about whether such stories exist or not.

They exist. "Taken by T-Rex" is a short story ebook, approximately 19 pages in length, according to Big River. There are indeed plenty more where that came from.

Rule 34 rules. Ergh.

2:

When I learned that cuttlefish shapeshifter erotica sells on Amazon, I realized that while I would be surprised by the weirdness of things in the future, I'd just passed through some sort of jadedness event horizon.

3:

http://xkcd.com/305/

Sorry, I just had to, couldn't help myself.

4:

There's something for everyone, I guess. That's the beauty of erotica - you don't have to even try to draw it, so you can do more situations. You just write it out and let people use their imaginations.

I think this is a great thing. Presumably people indulged in all kinds of weird sexual fantasies before, but now they can share them - and share them without embarrassing covers in e-book format!

5:

"Ravaged by the Raptor" was pretty explicit. Although it did feature human sacrifice.

6:

On the Internet, nobody everyone knows you're a horny triceratops.

7:

Bad typo (or unpardonable pun shaken off later) in there:

At first you have have Witchita Taxonomics and later you have Wichita Taxonomics.

Boy, did that ever make me laugh. Witch-ita. Maybe because it focused on another aspect of the announced theme. Maybe it was the surprise factor.

8:

It must be something in the water .... I just came across this little piece ... Which shows that, just for fun (Sex is supposed to be fun, isn't it?) Rishathra is nothing new - in fact it's a very old sport indeed.

[ Another commenter has remarked, on this topic: Early humans lived in a world that an evolutionary geneticist has compared to the fantasy world of Lord of the Rings. ]

10:

This has been discussed up, down and sideways at http://geekandsundry.com/shows/vaginalfantasy/ over the last year or so.

11: As a U.S. citizen (so far), I'd like to point out that Texans are not necessarily representative of those of us in the other 49 states. Or even of themselves. As an aspiring (i.e., not terribly skilled) writer, I'm agog. And a-gag.
12:

No, clearly not the same genre. It's like the difference between rape fantasy erotica and realistic fiction about rape. (For example, Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles or Nabokov's Lolita, two of the least erotic novels I've read.) Though I suppose I'd have to say yours is less realistic fiction than halfway between horror and black comedy, maybe with a dash of grand guignol.

13:

I came across the rape fantasy stuff a long time ago, before video on the internet.

In the written stuff I have seen, I got the feeling that the author was presenting intense sex without blame. Which I suppose is a thread in all erotica, and maybe more so for women, authors and readers.

And, looking from the outside, it's easy to see Dan Brown as a sign of male bias in the pre-ebook era. The internet has opened the floodgates, and I have a little sympathy with the David Camerons of this world, worrying about what might be out there. There is disturbing stuff out there.

But I think they're falling for the Big River propaganda line, and not noticing how few people read the typical ebook, erotica or otherwise. How many people read that dinosaur porn as a habit, rather than as read one and go somewhere else? That newspaper article might boost sales, but will there be repeat customers.

No matter, it's an excuse for the control freaks.

14:

I'd like to point out that Texans are not necessarily representative of those of us in the other 49 states

Texans are to Americans as Bavarians are to Germans. Only Bavaria is less scary to outsiders (except between 1918 and 1945.)

15:

Well, we're a little less likely to wear leather shorts and sing marching songs while drinking our beer . . . .

16:

Leather shorts —> cowboy boots and stetson hats

Marching drinking songs —> country and western

Good beer —> cow piss ...

It's a tie until we get to the beer. Then Bavaria wins over Texas by a landslide.

17:

And we haven't considered that Bavaria makes better chocolate cake yet.

18:

And has more trees...

19:

Actually, in Central Texas, which was settled by Bavarians, Bohemians and maybe Burgundians too, you are very likely to see guys dancing polkas and wearing Lederhosen, mostly during Oktoberfest.

See also: Revolting Cocks album "Beers, Steers and Queers" (from the old Texas A&M / University of Texas at Austin football rivalry).

About that beer...a great man once said, Crystal City beer doesn't taste like horse piss. It tastes like kerosene. Dimebox beer tastes like horse piss.

The beer revolution came late (late 1980s) to Texas but it did come. Hoppy IPAs dominate, because of the hot weather, and there are decent wheat beers and bocks in season.

We've got some of the most arrogantly stupid politicians on the planet, but that's changing, slowly.

I gotta represent. Grew up in Space City, moved away 17 years ago, got loads of families and fond memories to rekindle every Christmas. And the Gulf of Mexico is warmer in December than the North Sea in July, so there's that.

20:

CHarlie It's a tie until we get to the beer. Then Bavaria wins over Texas by a landslide. ESPECIALLY when you consider the present-day Groβer-Bayern (1815 settlement) includes an area that only reluctantly regards itself as included: "Franken" Brews very nice white wine, cider (including a scrumpy-variant) and truly amazing beers - the key word & place is: Bamberg.

paws @ 17 Yesh, the choccie-deli shops in Müunchen ....

21:

And as a native El Pasoan now happily residing in Stuttgart, I've gotta say it's a great place to be FROM.

22:

Bill Bryson started one of his books "I come from Des Moines. Well, someone had to."

23:

Reminds me of a joke I heard from a Texan: Never ask someone if they're from Texas. If they are, they'll tell you. If not, you'll just embarrass them.

24:

Then there's, umm, this from Omni Reboot

25:

Lord fuck-a-duck. To the article and your short story.

26:

I'm jaded enough to have encountered not just dinosaur erotica, but dinosaur erotica involving David Miliband.

[I wonder what chance that comment has of making it through a spam filter]

[[ lucky that sometimes the spam filters get checked - mod ]]

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This page contains a single entry by Charlie Stross published on November 23, 2013 9:34 PM.

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