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| FEATURE |
When Lesbian
Writers go BAD
Writers go BAD
By Joy Parks
Since 2004, Bella After Dark (BAD), an imprint of
Bella Books, has quickly developed a stellar list of
erotica, with titles such as Back to Basic: A
Butch/Femme Anthology, The Call of the Dark
(both edited by Therese Szymanski), The Perfect
Valentine (edited by Therese Szymanski and
Barbara Johnson) and the New Exploit series of
themed novella collections including Once Upon a
Dyke and Bell, Book, and Dyke by Karin
Kallmaker, Therese Szymanski, Barbara Johnson
and Julia Watts.
But the brave and seemingly successful imprint
almost never was. According to Bella publisher
Linda Hill, “Bella After Dark developed largely
because some of our authors convinced me that
publishing erotica was a good idea. To be honest,
we were initially pretty set against it…since our
biggest concern was that we didn't want to
alienate or offend some of our more vanilla
readers, we decided that the best approach was
to create a different imprint and make it clear to
customers that this line had high erotic content.”
According to Hill, BAD will continue to publish
three or four titles each year. “Overall, sales of
our BAD books have been steady. So far we
aren't feeling the pressure to make any changes,
but that could certainly be different in the next
year or so.”
When Bella/BAD author Karin Kallmaker started
writing more erotic pieces, she admits to being
afraid of alienating her romance readers, so much
so she thought of using another pseudonym for
her erotic work. When Linda Hill proposed the
BAD imprint, she says, “I was really pleased, and
more comfortable putting ‘Karin Kallmaker’ on the
cover. There have been a few readers who were
still caught off-guard; a couple who wrote to
express their displeasure, the occasional negative
review insisting a story wasn’t romantic if it had
graphic sex. But the overwhelming response has
been, ‘Please write more. Quickly.’”
Therese Szymanski, best known for her politically
incorrect and highly erotic detective series
featuring the sexually adventurous Brett Higgins,
came to Bella After Dark without those kinds of
restraints. “ I seem to have, quite unknowingly,
broken many boundaries with Brett. All I was
doing was simply trying to not write what everyone
else was.” As an editor of several BAD
anthologies, her goal is to provide quality erotica
that includes a well-told story. Continues
Szymanski, “I'm tired of anthologies that try to find
how far they can go—how much pain, torture,
humiliation; how much TG/TS can be included;
how bad they can be. I might push boundaries in
ways, but everything must fit in my concept and
idea. There’s a risk of offending some readers,
but by creating BAD as a separate imprint, Bella
has done its best to ensure that readers can find
their own level of risqué.”
Julia Watts, whose work has appeared in the New
Exploits series, is less concerned with classifying
her work as erotic or otherwise, noting that other
than the category of "lesbian fiction,” her writing is
pretty hard to classify. Julia says “writing for the
BAD series is a little different because I have to
write with some erotic possibilities in mind.
Obviously, I'm not going to write about a single
woman living in total isolation...unless she has a
very lively fantasy life. With the BAD novellas, I do
have to think of stories in which there's a context
for sex, but still, I'm not writing stories that are
only about sex. My goal is for the erotic content to
grow naturally out of well-developed characters
and well-developed relationships. I think that the
novella is a particularly effective form for erotica,
there's time to develop the characters, to set the
mood, to explore different erotic possibilities.”
Barbara Johnson, whose novellas appear in the
New Exploits series and who has served as co-
editor (with Therese Szymanski) on The Perfect
Valentine, sees much larger implications for
lesbian erotica. “There’s a definite backlash to the
ultra-conservatism that’s overtaken this country,
coupled with a devastating apathy. I think gay
people have let the gains we have made over the
last three decades slip silently and slowly away.
They’ll not see the consequences of their actions
or, more accurately, non-actions, for several
years, but I believe it is coming. Gay people grasp
at the tidbits thrown us like The L Word or Will
and Grace or a publicity-stunt kiss between
Madonna and Britney Spears, when in reality what
is coming is a return to the loneliness and fear of
Brokeback Mountain. But most people in the
community say, ‘It won’t ever be that way again.’
And those are the people we have to fear most.”
Johnson points to the political subversiveness of
writing erotica as a rejection to this passivity. “I
would prefer to see people, whether gay or
straight, take some real action. Lesbian erotica in
and of itself is a powerful statement. It says, ’We
are here and this is who we are.’ Even in its
mildest form, it scares people to death, yet
fascinates them. Erotic writing can be a way of
saying ‘I don’t give a damn what you think.’ And
the more extreme the better.” P&A
Bella Books, has quickly developed a stellar list of
erotica, with titles such as Back to Basic: A
Butch/Femme Anthology, The Call of the Dark
(both edited by Therese Szymanski), The Perfect
Valentine (edited by Therese Szymanski and
Barbara Johnson) and the New Exploit series of
themed novella collections including Once Upon a
Dyke and Bell, Book, and Dyke by Karin
Kallmaker, Therese Szymanski, Barbara Johnson
and Julia Watts.
But the brave and seemingly successful imprint
almost never was. According to Bella publisher
Linda Hill, “Bella After Dark developed largely
because some of our authors convinced me that
publishing erotica was a good idea. To be honest,
we were initially pretty set against it…since our
biggest concern was that we didn't want to
alienate or offend some of our more vanilla
readers, we decided that the best approach was
to create a different imprint and make it clear to
customers that this line had high erotic content.”
According to Hill, BAD will continue to publish
three or four titles each year. “Overall, sales of
our BAD books have been steady. So far we
aren't feeling the pressure to make any changes,
but that could certainly be different in the next
year or so.”
When Bella/BAD author Karin Kallmaker started
writing more erotic pieces, she admits to being
afraid of alienating her romance readers, so much
so she thought of using another pseudonym for
her erotic work. When Linda Hill proposed the
BAD imprint, she says, “I was really pleased, and
more comfortable putting ‘Karin Kallmaker’ on the
cover. There have been a few readers who were
still caught off-guard; a couple who wrote to
express their displeasure, the occasional negative
review insisting a story wasn’t romantic if it had
graphic sex. But the overwhelming response has
been, ‘Please write more. Quickly.’”
Therese Szymanski, best known for her politically
incorrect and highly erotic detective series
featuring the sexually adventurous Brett Higgins,
came to Bella After Dark without those kinds of
restraints. “ I seem to have, quite unknowingly,
broken many boundaries with Brett. All I was
doing was simply trying to not write what everyone
else was.” As an editor of several BAD
anthologies, her goal is to provide quality erotica
that includes a well-told story. Continues
Szymanski, “I'm tired of anthologies that try to find
how far they can go—how much pain, torture,
humiliation; how much TG/TS can be included;
how bad they can be. I might push boundaries in
ways, but everything must fit in my concept and
idea. There’s a risk of offending some readers,
but by creating BAD as a separate imprint, Bella
has done its best to ensure that readers can find
their own level of risqué.”
Julia Watts, whose work has appeared in the New
Exploits series, is less concerned with classifying
her work as erotic or otherwise, noting that other
than the category of "lesbian fiction,” her writing is
pretty hard to classify. Julia says “writing for the
BAD series is a little different because I have to
write with some erotic possibilities in mind.
Obviously, I'm not going to write about a single
woman living in total isolation...unless she has a
very lively fantasy life. With the BAD novellas, I do
have to think of stories in which there's a context
for sex, but still, I'm not writing stories that are
only about sex. My goal is for the erotic content to
grow naturally out of well-developed characters
and well-developed relationships. I think that the
novella is a particularly effective form for erotica,
there's time to develop the characters, to set the
mood, to explore different erotic possibilities.”
Barbara Johnson, whose novellas appear in the
New Exploits series and who has served as co-
editor (with Therese Szymanski) on The Perfect
Valentine, sees much larger implications for
lesbian erotica. “There’s a definite backlash to the
ultra-conservatism that’s overtaken this country,
coupled with a devastating apathy. I think gay
people have let the gains we have made over the
last three decades slip silently and slowly away.
They’ll not see the consequences of their actions
or, more accurately, non-actions, for several
years, but I believe it is coming. Gay people grasp
at the tidbits thrown us like The L Word or Will
and Grace or a publicity-stunt kiss between
Madonna and Britney Spears, when in reality what
is coming is a return to the loneliness and fear of
Brokeback Mountain. But most people in the
community say, ‘It won’t ever be that way again.’
And those are the people we have to fear most.”
Johnson points to the political subversiveness of
writing erotica as a rejection to this passivity. “I
would prefer to see people, whether gay or
straight, take some real action. Lesbian erotica in
and of itself is a powerful statement. It says, ’We
are here and this is who we are.’ Even in its
mildest form, it scares people to death, yet
fascinates them. Erotic writing can be a way of
saying ‘I don’t give a damn what you think.’ And
the more extreme the better.” P&A
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