Susie Bright - The Best American Erotica 2002

The peculiar American prejudice against sex work is that, first, it's for dumb people, and second, it's for the chronically horny and hard-up. Yet if you take a look at any of the books, plays, and films created by sex workers, you'll see that they're as articulate, educated, and outspoken as any group of nonconformists. They have the same highs and lows of libido as any civilian.

One of the best anthologies I read last year was Trices and Treats, edited by Matt Bernstein Sycamore. The theme is sex workers talking about their clients. Once again, the "I" is used, it's intended to be autobiographical, and a few of the stories recall how the authors came into their trade.

Yet as the editor says in his introduction, "These stories are written as if we are talking among ourselves." He goes on further to explain the risk he took in showing a warts-and-all view of this world: "The media's most common portrayals of sex workers are of sex-crazed perverts or trapped victims… In a world that still views sex workers as primarily vectors of disease (literally and figuratively), counternarrative is crucial. Sometimes, however, sex-worker spokespersons end up oversimplifying sex work by showing only the positive sides. To me, this is as inaccurate as the talk-show host and the social worker who call us depraved or deprived."

Oversimplifying-the great sin of the do-gooder, the sex-positive cheerleader, the optimistic assimilationist. Truth be told, it's the cry of someone who would just like to be understood and appreciated for a minute before the next tidal wave of sex-shame barrels up. And yet look where it gets you-there's the initial applause for trying to play to the crowd, but it's only a matter of minutes before your facade is unmasked, and the calls of hypocrisy are thrown into the ring.

Fiction has always been the most transformative place to tell the truth. Storytellers aren't running for office; they're simply here to suspend disbelief. Writers don't have to take one side, because if they're any good, they'll make you step into multiple pairs of character shoes. Authors don't have to "do the right thing," because their most appealing hero can be the one who never does anything right. It's this empathy that arouses our convictions and sways more minds than a thousand stump speeches. Erotic lit is getting messier every day, much to my approval. I'm relieved that the new erotica writers don't expect me to love them, or to become them, just because their story turns me on. Give me the soap, the lather, and all the dirt, because I'll stick around for the next episode, and the one after that. Coming-out stories have finally come clean and grown up, like all good genres should. I don't know what's going to happen next, and that's the biggest thrill of all.

- Susie Bright February 2002

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Arsenal Pulp Press

Arsenal Pulp Press is a leading independent press publishing a wide range of titles, which include The Bald-Headed Hermit and the Artichoke: An Erotic Thesaurus; Carnal Nation: New Sex Fictions; Exhibitions: Tales of Sex in the City; The Embroidered Couch: An Erotic Novel from China; Quickies: Short Short Fiction on Gay Male Desire, volumes 1 and 2; and Hot amp; Bothered: Short Short Fiction on Lesbian Desire, volumes 1 and 2. For more information, write to 103-1014 Homer Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6B 2W9, or visit www.arsenalpulp.com.

Black Books

Black Books publishes books on underground urban subcultures- erotic short fiction anthologies and nonfiction resource guides that enable fringe groups to network with one another. It also publishes The San Francisco Authors Series: fiction by well-known and upcoming authors living around San Francisco, or writing about its underground scenes. For more information, write for a catalog at PO. Box 31155, San Francisco, CA 94131, or visit www.blackbooks.com.

The Blacklisted Journalist

The Blacklisted Journalist includes fiction and nonfiction contributions from writers all over the world. It also features erotica and includes a poetry section. The Blacklisted Journalist is not just an e-zine but a body of work that grows each month with the addition of another column, which is what each issue is called. The contributions range from first-time efforts by fledgling writers to works by established authors. With a growing cult following that now exceeds 100,000 readers, The Blacklisted Journalist can be contacted via e-mail at black@bigmagic.com or at Box 964, Elizabeth, NJ 07208-0964; or at www.bigmagic.com/pages/blackj.

Bloomsbury Publishing Pic

Bloomsbury Publishing is the publisher of the bestselling books Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain and The Tulip by Anna Pavord; other authors include Ben Cheever, Karen Karbo, and J. T. LeRoy. Bloomsbury discovered J. K. Rowling and is the publisher of the Harry Potter series in the UK. Also on its UK list are Booker Prize winners Margaret Atwood and Michael Ondaatje, as well as John Irving, Joanna Trollope, and the Encarta World English Dictionary. Visit their Web site, a fusion of their publishing, a literary magazine, reference library, and bookshop at www.Bloomsbury- Magazine.com.

Circlet Press

Circlet Press has been blending the erotic with the fantastic since 1992. Vampires, cybersex, magic-Circlet's specialty is high-quality erotica with a twist. The contact address is 1770 Massachusetts Avenue, Suite 278, Cambridge, MA 02140, or www.circlet.com.

Clean Sheets

Clean Sheets is a weekly online magazine devoted to encouraging and publishing quality erotic writing, as well as providing the public with honest information and thoughtful commentary on sexuality. A new issue of the magazine-showcasing articles, exotica, fiction, art, poetry, and reviews-is published every Wednesday at www.clean- sheets.com.

Cleis Press

Cleis Press has published provocative books on sex and gender by both women and men for more than twenty years. Notable authors include Gore Vidal, Patrick Califia-Rice, Susie Bright, Annie Sprinkle, Tristan Taormino, and Carol Queen. Titles such as New Good Vibrations Guide to Sex, The Ultimate Guide to Anal Sex for Women, Best Lesbian Erotica, The Whole Lesbian Sex Boo\, and Susie Sexpert's Lesbian Sex World are just a few of its groundbreaking books, as well as Zaftig: Well Rounded Erotica (edited by Hanne Blank) and Pat Califia's new nonfiction collection, Speaking Sex to Power: Politics of Pleasure amp; Perversity. Visit www.cleispress.com.

Haworth Press

Haworth Press has been publishing books on human sexuality, especially of interest to the L/G/B/T community, for several decades. Harrington Park Press is an imprint of Haworth Press. Visit its online catalogue at www.haworthpressinc.com.

In Touch For Men

In Touch For Men is a monthly magazine featuring erotic short stories, adult video reviews, and nude photographs of young men in their prime. To obtain submission guidelines, write to In Touch magazine, Attn. Michael Jimenez, 13122 Saticoy Street, North Hollywood, CA 91605. Its guidelines can also be viewed online at www.intouchformen.com/edguide.html.

Alfred A. Knopf

Alfred A. Knopf is one of America 's foremost book publishers, dedicated to publishing distinguished fiction and nonfiction. Knopf is the flagship imprint of the Knopf Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc.

Melcher Media

Melcher Media is an award-winning creator of innovative illustrated books, based in New York City. The hit anthology of erotic short fiction, Aqua Erotica: 18 Stories for a Steamy Bath, edited by Mary Anne Mohanraj, was published in 2000 by Three Rivers Press using Melcher Media's patent-pending waterproof format, Dura-Books. Its sequel, Aqua Erotica: Bodies of Water, debuts summer 2002. Melcher Media has also created the deluxe photography collection Voyeur and Peepshow, a stereoscopic book on 1950s pinup photography, complete with built-in 3D glasses and an introduction by Bunny Yeager. Visit www.melcher.com.