Pick Your Pleasure: Talking with Liz Asch
Liz Asch discusses her new book, YOUR SALT ON MY LIPS.
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Posts Tagged: sex writing
Against Respectability: A Conversation with Raven Leilani
Raven Leilani discusses her debut novel, LUSTER.
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The Rumpus Mini-Interview Project #208: Stephen Van Dyck
“This reality is so much dustier, smellier, and bitterer than it seems through a screen.”
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The Spot You’re Standing In: A Conversation with Chris Dennis
Chris Dennis discusses his debut story collection, HERE IS WHAT YOU DO.
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We’re All Fighting: A Conversation with Saeed Jones
Saeed Jones discusses his new memoir, HOW WE FIGHT FOR OUR LIVES.
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Bringing the Fun Back: Talking with Andrea Lawlor
Andrea Lawlor discusses PAUL TAKES THE FORM OF A MORTAL GIRL.
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The Rumpus Mini-Interview Project #168: Keir Graff
“I’ve always loved collaboration. It was so exciting, because I love the energy. ”
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Alive and Kicking: Talking with Dana Czapnik
Dana Czapnik discusses her debut novel, THE FALCONER.
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The Rumpus Mini-Interview Project #156: Steph Auteri
“I wanted my book to open up a conversation.”
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Our Beautiful Fragility: A Conversation with Lisa Locascio
Lisa Locascio discusses her debut novel, OPEN ME.
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Taking Back Control: A Conversation with Joseph Osmundson
Joseph Osmundson discusses his memoir, Inside/Out, intimacy, trauma, and the sometimes violence of desire.
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How Amazon Is Making Sex a Dirty Word
“[A]s long as we retain all of these conflicting ideas of what sex is, and what it means to us, sex will always sell—until it’s inconvenient.”
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Messy and Complicated and Real: Talking with Laura Pritchett
Author Laura Pritchett discusses her two most recent books, death, sex, and being rural in modern America.
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Everybody Is Fine: Talking with Jasmine Guillory
Jasmine Guillory discusses her debut novel, The Wedding Date, finding success, writing sex, and the revolutionary act of eating.
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Hearse and Home: How Stephen King Saved My Girlhood
Down the steps of the second-story apartment above the hearse garage and across the alley was the library.
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Writing Romance: The Rumpus Interview with Sonali Dev
Sonali Dev talks about her latest novel, A Change of Heart, the romance genre, writing non-white characters, and the parallels between writing and architectural design.
...moreThe Rumpus Interview with Ben Tanzer
Ben Tanzer discusses his new essay collection Be Cool, why running is so important to him, and not being precious about his work.
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Podcatcher #3: Poetry Jawns
Emma Sanders and Alina Pleskova charm us with their affection for each other, DIY ethos, and belief on Poetry Jawns, what matters is the work.
...moreBad Sex (Scenes)
Are sex scenes in books always bad? At The Millions, Drew Nellis Smith muses on poorly written depictions of passion, why authors so often leave out the messier details, and his own attempts to get it right: I’m no different than anyone else who has waded into this treacherous territory. I’m quite happy with my sex scenes. […]
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The Rumpus Interview with Rebecca Schiff
Rebecca Schiff discusses her debut collection The Bed That Moved, choosing narrators who share similarities with each other and with herself, and whether feminism and fiction-writing conflict.
...moreWhat to Call the Penis?
Kim Devereux outlines some rules for writing good sex. (But never bad sex.) Do go for the etymological dictionary for epithets that feel historical: like, membrum virile, arbor vitae (from the late 18th century, for a type of evergreen shrub), wrinkly (early 15th century) or bole (early 14th century, from Old Norse bolr meaning tree trunk).
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The Rumpus Interview with Maggie Nelson
Author Maggie Nelson talks about matrophobia, “sodomitical maternity,” breaking down categories between genres of writing, and her new book, The Argonauts.
...moreSperm Puppets All
Writing and sex have a lot in common, least enjoyable their knack for making participants feel vulnerable and insecure. But when anything goes, writers produce work that is beautiful for this very vulnerability: Believe it or not, the resulting scenes are often deeply moving. And here’s why: because nearly every bad decision a writer makes […]
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Super Hot Prof-on-Student Word Sex: Along Came Polly
I taught Polly at Tin House one year. Or maybe she taught me.
...moreSteve Almond Adds Class on Sex Writing
Steve Almond, our friend and author of not one but two Rumpus columns, is teaching three classes in the Bay Area on the weekend of December 7–8. In addition to the classes on obsession and humor in San Francisco that we blogged about earlier, Steve will be conducting a “freewheeling workshop” in Oakland on how […]
...moreHow Writers Are Like Prostitutes
Here at The Rumpus, we feature a fair amount of writing about sex work, prostitution, and writing. And I don’t believe we’ve ever made the tragic error of using either Sex and the City or Diary of a Call Girl (the show, not the book by Belle du Jour) as an example for anything, especially […]
...moreKatie Roiphe’s Big Cock Block
I’m not sure what feminist nomenclature Katie Roiphe would assign herself, but I can’t fathom why she would choose to “assign primacy” to The Man.
...moreHow to Write Sex Scenes: The 12-Step Program
Give us the reddened stubble in the crease of a debutante’s groin, or the minute trembling of a banker’s underlip.
...moreThe Sunday Book Blog Roundup
Greetings and salutations! I’m Michael Berger, today’s guest-editor. I’ve spent my last few days off sipping coffee and drifting through the labyrinth of book blogs. Which was terrific, because most of my work week was spent moving a bookstore. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the 25 year old San Francisco used bookstore Phoenix Books is not […]
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