Circlet Press: Welcome to Circlet 2.0

I am gratified and amazed at how many reviews we are receiving for Best Fantastic Erotica!

In addition to Publishers Weekly, AVN, Uniquely Pleasurable, The Fix, and the others we’ve posted here already, raves have just come in from The Erotica Readers Association, Erotica Revealed, True Review, and Coffee Time Romance!

Click the post title above to read excerpts and see links!

More great online reviews for Best Fantastic Erotica arrived this week!
At The Triskelion Society:
Excerpt:
“By blending a wide range of genres and sexual lifestyles, the editor has chosen a collection that is sure to appeal to any fan of erotica. … The collection of writers for this book is amazing and each has a very distinct […]

Excerpted from The Darker Passions: FRANKENSTEIN
by Nancy Kilpatrick, writing as Amarantha Knight, $14.95.

In 1993 Canadian writer Nancy Kilpatrick began taking classic tomes heavy with the repressed sexuality of the Victorian age and unrepressing them. The result was a series of seven erotic retellings of Victorian gothic novels, The Darker Passions series.

Time crawled by until finally a day and a night and another day had elapsed. At midnight, with the full moon high in the sky, I slipped out of the house and down the rose path to the gazebo. It was just midnight, but…

by Elspeth Potter, aka Victoria Janssen

Be Different. Be. Different.

I was talking about experimentation and difference in the last post. I think my attention to difference is one of the reasons I manage to sell stories consistently.

Erotica stories, by their nature, are somewhat the same. The gender or sexuality of the participants, and the sexual acts involved, are barely an issue in the structure. I will break this basic structure down…

by Elspeth Potter, aka Victoria Janssen
I sent my first story, “Water Music,” off to an anthology edited by Mary Anne Mohanraj called Aqua Erotica. Alas, it did not sell. Later, when I saw the anthology, I realized why; my story was considerably smuttier and less literary than what was chosen.

So, first rejection in hand, I went to Cecilia Tan (whom I knew already through a friend who’d sold to her) and asked her where I should send it. Cecilia suggested Best Lesbian Erotica, edited by Tristan Taormino. I can’t remember when I mailed the submission, but it was probably the winter of 1999. On June 30, 2000, I received this email, which astonished me…

(click title above to read full article)

The story “The Bridge” by Connie Wilkins, which appeared in BEST FANTASTIC EROTICA, has been nominated for a Gaylactic Spectrum Award in the short story category, and the book as a whole has been nominated in the “other” category!

The book has also gotten some terrific reviews lately, in Publishers Weekly, the forthcoming Adult Video News, and at Uniquely Pleasurable.

Click title above to see excerpts from the reviews.

by Melanie Fletcher

My sister gave me a rare and valued compliment the other day. She works with disabled children, and about six months ago she decided to write a book about her experiences. When I called her for our regular chat/rant/venting session, she said, “You know, you’ve been writing all these years, and I never really understood what you were doing until I started working on my book. Man, writing is hard.” …

It’s time for another contest at Circlet.com! This month’s contest is looking for the best entries of either microfiction or essay-form that are on the theme “the sex toy I wish existed, but doesn’t.” What do you dream of? Whether it is magical, technological, psychosexual, or what, craft your idea into either a microfiction or an essay and submit it to us by April 15th!

Word limit is 1000 words. Submit either as text in the body of the message or as an attachment. Be sure to include:
1. Name you would like used on the published piece
2. Your actual name and physical mailing address
3. A brief bio or byline that can run with the piece

Winners will receive a copy of The Erotic Writers Market Guide (a $19.95 value!) and a trophy in the form of a web graphic/banner that can be proudly displayed on blogs and websites!

All submissions should go by email to “circletintern” at Gmail. Deadline April 15th.

Hope you had fun with the erotic science fiction crossword puzzle by Dan Recht! Here are the answers! (Click title above to see full post with graphic answer grid.)

Executive Style magazine recently recommended the Erotic Writers Market Guide in an advice column for women. A reader had written in asking about whether reading erotica was a good way to “get in the mood,” and where to find stuff that wasn’t “crude or amateurish.” The columnist suggested that there is now a wide range of high quality erotica for women, but why not try writing some yourself?

Indeed! And in honor of the review, I’m putting the book on sale THIS WEEK ONLY for $10! Regular cover price is $19.95. Sale price is good until March 29th!

Read the whole thing here:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/culture/diy-erotica/2008/03/13/1205126082522.html

Today’s amusement comes from Dan Recht, who produced this lovely crossword puzzle — with an erotic sf/f theme — for our book Best Fantastic Erotica. The ebook versions of this book are devoid of this feature (well, it appears in the Kindle version, but it’s not practical to write on the Kindle’s screen…) so I thought you all might enjoy printing out this version and working on it the traditional way!

Click the title above to see the full grid and questions.

This post will serve as a permanent place for Circlet readers and visitors to post bugs or feedback about Circlet Press, including:

• ebooks in all formats
• the website and ecommerce system
• customer service & order fulfillment
• print books

If you are the first person to report a bug or error in an ebook or printed book within 6 months of the title’s release, report it here and we’ll reward you with a free book!

We’re pleased to announce that our first two titles at Fictionwise.com are now up and running as downloadable ebooks!

Check out Erotic Fantastic and Best Fantastic Erotica, which are available in Palm eReader format, Mobi, PDF, Rocket, Franklin ebook, Sony reader, and a bunch of other

The first two titles for Amazon.com’s “Kindle” e-reader by Circlet Press are now available!

Best Fantastic Erotica, our most recent print publication featuring the winners of the first round of the “best fantastic erotica” contest, and Erotic Fantastic: The Best of Circlet Press 1992 - 2002 are both up for download. They are each carrying a price tag of $9.99, but are $7.99 if bought via the Kindle network… (to read more, click on article title above)

by Kal Cobalt

Say I have a robot. Let’s call him Hal. Hal is humanoid, and he’s quite a looker: all shiny silverplate and giant blue eye receptors. He’s what you’d call a “fully functional” robot, in that he has an erect penile accessory which attaches to his pelvic area, and he knows what to do with it. Hal can even “orgasm” – enough stimulation, and there’s a little electrical storm in his brain that cleans out his temporary files and leaves him performing better than ever. Also, because this is my story, Hal makes a mean cappuccino, too.

I received notification of this sweet little review a month ago and COMPLETELY forgot to post it. My apologies! The website HotMoviesForHer.com has been branching out to review print erotica and Erotic Fantastic: The Best of Circlet Press 1992-2002 received a mention in the regular column, From the Desk of… the Porn Librarian.

Feel free to buy a copy for yourself to see what the fuss is about.

Our special thanks back to HotMoviesForHer.com!!!

Party Tonight! We’ll be hosting a Champagne Reception from 10pm to 12 midnight in Room 427 of the Seaport Westin Hotel in Boston, at the Boskone science fiction convention. Copies of the book will be for sale, and the editor and some contributors to the book will be on hand to autograph.

Terran Export

microfiction by Victoria Pond

He could hear the chittering from the Ralakians who’d congregated on the upper left side of the arena, could make out the low hum of a language unintelligible to human ears from the Voksangs dead ahead. Excited energy bounced off every wall as his audience waited for him to enter the arena. Separated out by species, hundreds of thousands had turned up at Alpha Station for the performance…

Click post header above to read complete story…

Gifts of the High Ones

microfiction by Daniel J. Cottle

I spent most of the winter as a girl. When I wasn’t cruising the museums for nerdy homos or gorging myself at the Thai eateries, I helped Brad in his latest business venture: selling pastries to yuppies off the avenue. Every Wednesday I would get to help mix up the lemon meringue–giggling, licking citrus from my fingers and generally exulting in my femininity. But by the first warm breeze of the new year, my cock was itching for action. At that time it was still my metaphorical cock, and it was metaphorical itching, because: ew…

Click post headline above to read whole story…

We have two winners! In the end we could not choose between the top two selections, so they are both winners. Tomorrow and Thursday we’ll be posting the two stories here for your enjoyment, one each day. Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!
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