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Tag: smut

  • Monk Reviews Doc and Fluff by Patrick Califia

    Monk Reviews Doc and Fluff by Patrick Califia

    My copy of this book has a foreword from the author more or less calling critics out over the violence in the book, chiding them to basically get real. I realize many people out there don’t bother to read the forewords or introductions to books, but I’m not one of them and reading that on my way into what I was anticipating was a grimy dystopian smut tale by Our Father Patrick had me a little nervous.

    DOC AND FLUFF coils itself around some harsh sexually violent biker scene shit, and there’s especially one scene in the book that I’ll say I never plan on reading ever again. To date, I’ve always warned prospective readers about it, since when I read the book I was deep in recovering from old untended sexual trauma and it fucked me up. So, it can be rough for that.

    And It’s a time capsule from the 90s. Califia–who now uses male pronouns–has said in interviews how aggressively ostracized he was by second wave feminist lesbians for his predilections towards leather and sadomasochism and masculinity itself in his writing. Knowing some of Califia’s background or at least some dyke history deepens DOC AND FLUFF’s characters and road warrior style dystopian setting into a social criticism of its time.

    There’s a network of dyke-run farm communes, where “ex-hets and passing women” (passing for men, they mean) aren’t afforded the same rights within the farms as the native-borns. There’s a sex worker femme with a butch dyke partner that doesn’t respect her enough nor knows how. There’s a rough bisexual biker gang whose members play violent dominance games. There’s dyke daddy taboos. There’s hustlers and pussy lickers and witches.

    I imagine if you haven’t ever been in with rough and dangerous types of deviants and homo freaks before, DOC AND FLUFF can be scandalous and upsetting. It’s sort of a scifi, sort of an alt reality, and neither at the same time, which is why I found it worth reading.

    Related reading: Patrick Califia’s essay in Sexiness: Rituals, Revisions & Reconstructions from Discipline Press.

    Related viewing: Michelle Handelman’s mesmerizing documentary BloodSisters: Leather Dykes and Sadomasochism.

  • Monk Reviews Future Pleasures edited by Rin Kim

    Monk Reviews Future Pleasures edited by Rin Kim

    Germantown artist and event planner Malachi Lily was one of the first to submit their incredible squish-slime smut myth The Violet Island during the open call for Venus Saturn Square, and it was through them that I learned of Other Publishing and their QPOC scifi fantasy smut anthology, FUTURE PLEASURES. They had what looked like a thoroughly enchanting release party in New York City, with all sorts of bewitching live performances. I’m sorry to have missed it but grateful to bb_basura for bringing me back a copy of the book!

    I was excited to notice that this book is entirely hand cut and bound––sike, Other Publishing let me know they used Blurb. Still, as a self publisher myself and meticulous Virgo rising, I appreciate the details and clues of construction. The book is slim, floppy, and the paper inside is alllmost newsprint.

    me holding the book open to a dramatic high contrast title page that says CANDEX LOUIE on the left and THERE'S NO GRAVITY on the right

    Shame as the antithesis of pleasure and potentiality and without mastering ourselves and our fears to overcome the shame that has been formulated by the powers that be of white supremacy, capitalism, colonialism, cis/heterosexuality we could never have realizations of our own powers and queer histories of resilience without queer pleasure.

    There’s five stories from four contributors: Bri, Malachi, Candex, and Rin. All non-binary and a mix of Black, Taiwanese-Toisanese, and mixed Korean identities.

    The smut is juicy. Takes place in spaceships and forests, between palace guards and nymphs, plant-thromorphs and galactic demon lords. I was thrilled to see these stories taking place in fantastic settings with complicated worlds and backstories we only see the tip of. It felt like I was reading fanfic for series that I have yet to familiarize myself with, and jesus do you now how long I’ve been searching for the intersections of trans-queer x scifi fantasy x smut writing? When my scifi collective METROPOLARITY started, we were the only people using the #queerscifi tag on social media, and it wasn’t even all smut either. But it wasn’t long before a hardbody shirtless white gay centric account came to dominate the tag.

    Over the years I’ve watched a literary industry begin to suss out markets for trans and queer fiction, but like most of the publishing industry, what comes out is overwhelmingly white and kind of whatever in a lot of been-there-done-that ways. Rather, being OF this wave, it bothers me to know so many underground writers who just don’t get the attention or play––and that’s ALL because of the lackadaisical racism of the apparently insular publishing industry!

    So, whenever I see fantastic queer smut by Black and Indigenous and People of Color, I try to buy that shit.

    Shout out to you, Other Publishing!

  • Call for Smut: Venus Saturn Square returns

    Call for Smut: Venus Saturn Square returns

    UPDATE 17 MAY 2020: Nobody’s been asking but the second issue of this zine is on indefinite hold, due to my lack of capacity thru this pandemic. Will pick it up when the time is right. Reach out to me with any questions you may have.

    CALL FOR SMUT: Slow-moving /venus saturn sqaure/ zine returns. An attempt to straddle the realms of fandom kink & fantasy, cruising & BDSM, service, obliteration & satisfaction. A private hot tub invite to those who find themselves stuck, conflicted, in denial, or self-sabotaging of their own desires. ISO smut dreams & fanfic that lives between the confines of existing canons and trips into the surreal and ecstatic. No pressure to climax, penetrate, or deal with Western narrative. Drafts welcome. Editing help provided. Tell a freak.

    first drafts due:
    FEBRUARY 29TH, 2020
    to magusmonk at protonmail dot com

    workshop dates on the way.

    archive/resources:

    flier for venus saturn square, hot red text on black, text repeated in post

  • VENUS SATURN SQUARE smut zine, a physical reality

    VENUS SATURN SQUARE smut zine, a physical reality

    Is it possible to write yourself out of a blocked situation and into your own fantasies?

    VENUS SATURN SQUARE took corporeal form on Palm Sunday 2019. It debuted IRL at the Philly leg of Hot Bits queer xxx film festival on April 26th & 27th at Lightbox Film Center, and later had its own noteworthy release party at Vox Populi gallery on September 21st. It phases in and out of print at the cyborg memoirs distro as of this posting, and can be downloaded in reading or booklet form (15 sheets of paper) as of August 29th, 2020.

    VENUS SATURN SQUARE is a freshly shorn smut zine attempting to straddle a nebulous rift between fandom kink, queer cruising, and BDSM scenes.
    VSS hopes to become a vehicle centering people who find themselves stuck, conflicted, in denial, or self-sabotaging of their own desires.
    VSS features six smut stories by fledgling and experienced writers, for your reading satisfaction. We recommend reading the stories outloud.
    VSS includes a desire practice worksheet to work through your own hang-ups.

    CONTENTS
    • Scorpio for Scorpio by Evie Snax
    • Pits by L. Corn
    • an illustration by Joe Hatton
    • Heavy Prosthetic by Magus Monk
    • ALUMINUM TONGUE [an excerpt from The Body Remembers] by Blake P.
    • The Violet Island by Malachi Lily
    • Synaesthetic Sex by Fatherfucker
    • Desire Practice Worksheet
    • Contributor bio + Contact info

    buy this zine

    “This aspect sometimes means unhealthy sensuality. They are hard, and do not know how to express their emotions. They are frightened of showing their love, and this leads to disappointments, break-ups, lack of satisfaction. It is likely that they had problems with their mother, who did not know how to love them or give them self-confidence. They doubt, are suspicious and jealous. They will learn how to be happy in love, to be at ease with themself and to control their jealousy in the second half of their life, thanks to an older person, who gives their self-confidence back to their, so they can then trust others.”

    – AstroCafe birthchart reading
    flier for August 29th 2019 release party of VENUS SATURN SQUARE smut zine at Vox Populi Gallery designed by me

    SEPT 21st /8pm~11pm/ ~ Enter into the dark and listen at the official release soirée for VENUS SATURN SQUARE. This trans-centered erotic zine unfurls from its printed confines for an evening to thrill and confound desires. Come ready to lurk-xuriate in low lighting and heavy listening. Listening masks and phone check will be on offer for a low-distraction experience, along with glow bracelets for anyone who’d rather not talk.

    – from original event announcement
  • VENUS SATURN SQUARE call for submissions

    VENUS SATURN SQUARE call for submissions

    Calendar Dates

    First Drafts Due
    • November 16th [Friday]
    • send to magusmonk @ protonmail . com
    • don’t worry about word count

    Prompts & Worksheets
    Desire Practice [PDF | text]

    Anticipated Release & Reading Soiree
    • Winter

    A Venus Saturn square?

    This aspect sometimes means unhealthy sensuality. They are hard, and do not know how to express their emotions. They are frightened of showing their love, and this leads to disappointments, break-ups, lack of satisfaction. It is likely that they had problems with their mother, who did not know how to love them or give them self-confidence. They doubt, are suspicious and jealous. They will learn how to be happy in love, to be at ease with themself and to control their jealousy in the second half of their life, thanks to an older person, who gives their self-confidence back to their, so they can then trust others.
    – AstroCafe birthchart reading

    Is it possible to write yourself out of a bad situation and into your own fantasies?

    VENUS SATURN SQUARE is a project that’s been a long time coming. This is a smut fiction compilation zine & reading series with hopes to center people who find themselves stuck, conflicted, in denial, or self-sabotaging their own desires.

    This project is on the lookout for all interested parties who enjoy a nasty freaky embarrassing this-taboo-turns-me-on kind of story. This project is looking for smut that lives between the confines of existing TLGB BDSM canons and trips into the surreal and fantastic. (Fanfiction writers and RPG players, you know the deal.) This project is looking for stories that don’t revolve around climax or penetration. This project is looking for stories that shirk traditions of Western narrative. (But send what you’ve got!!)

    Some themes to consider:
    predators & prey, watching eyes, harsh mentors, nonhuman bodies, flesh boundaries, fantastic & atemporal circumstances, eroticized physical non/contact such as fights & rituals, long setups & unresolved tensions, other worlds, transformation, loneliness & solitude, etc.

    Desire Practice Workshop Series

    You’re invited to a series of low pressure workshops, to encourage and create practice space for low-key pervs and shy & uncertain first-timers. We’ll practice thinking about our desires, writing them down, and talking about them with others. Let’s peel back our layers of fear/shame/stigma around expressing our desires out loud, in writing, and practice the art of reading aloud to an audience for your own personal enjoyment. Anyone who attends is encouraged to bring any examples of erotic fiction, poetry, etc along with them.

    Workshops
    Saturdays from 2 to 4 PM
    3907 Spruce Street, 2nd floor [Upenn “LGBT Center”]
    • October 6th
    • October 27th
    • November 03rd

    Shareable Images

    (check back for new/updates)

    UPDATE 29 AUG 2020: You can now download the premier volume of this zine in reading or booklet form (15 sheets of paper).