1,000!

It’s done it, everybody!

1000
Atheists and Anger — the post that wouldn’t die, the post that is still bringing more traffic to this blog than any other single post, the post that is still generating comments more than five months after it was originally posted — has finally passed the 1,000 comments mark!

Admittedly, this number is slightly inaccurate. Because of the singular nature of this post and the response it got (and continues to get), I didn’t do any editing of any of the comments (except to remove obvious commercial content if I saw any). As a result, there are duplicate comments that I normally would have deleted but didn’t. On the other hand, there are unbelievably abusive and even threatening comments that I normally would have deleted in a heartbeat but that, for this post, I kept up. So it all balances out.

Scream
And speaking of which. The winning comment, Atheists and Anger Comment Number 1,000, is:

“Get over it bitch. Maybe if you had a god he’d save you.”

Well, maybe not so winning. I wish the 1,000th comment had been one of the many supportive and thankful ones… but in a way, I guess this is appropriate. Alas, I can’t link you directly to it — Typepad still can’t link directly to a comment if there’s more than 50 on a post — but it’s at the very bottom of this page, if you want to see it for yourself.

Partyhat
I was originally going to have a party when I passed 1,000. But I’m still feeling pretty punk, and not at all up for throwing a party. So consider this a virtual party. Eat some cake, put on a silly hat, flirt with someone inappropriate, and help me celebrate The Blog Post That Wouldn’t Die. Wahoo!

1,000!
{advertisement}

Come Hear Me Read! Thursday, March 27

UPDATE: This event is still happening, but alas, I won’t be there. I’m home sick with pneumonia and expect to be for several days, so I will not be reading at this event. Damn and blast. It should still be fun, though, and I encourage y’all to go anyway.

Note to family members and others who don’t want to know about my personal sex life: This post mentions my personal sex life. It doesn’t talk about it in any great detail, but it mentions aspects of my personal sex life that may be seriously too much information. If you don’t want to know about that stuff, please don’t read this post.

Best_sex_writing_2008
Hey, Bay Area folks! I’m going to be reading at an event for the new book Best Sex Writing 2008, at the Center for Sex and Culture, on Thursday, March 27 at 7:00pm. A collection of the best in sex journalism, Best Sex Writing 2008 collects smart, fascinating, often very funny non-fiction writing about sex, on an astonishingly wide range of topics.

I’ll be reading from my piece “Buying Obedience: My Visit to a Pro Submissive,” a detailed descriptive essay about exactly what it sounds like: my visit to a pro submissive, why I did it, how it worked, what we did, what it was like, whether I’d do it again, and more. In addition to me me me, authors Violet Blue, Paul Festa, Amy Andre, Melissa Gira, and Jen Cross will be there to read and sign books. So it should be either a wingding or a hootenanny, and quite possibly both.

The Center for Sex and Culture is at 1519 Mission St., Suite 2, between 11th and South Van Ness, near the Van Ness MUNI stop and not too far from the Civic Center BART stop. No charge, but they will be asking for donations if you can contribute. Hope to see you there!

Come Hear Me Read! Thursday, March 27

Everything You Know about God Is Wrong: The Disinformation Guide to Religion: Shameless Self-Promotion, Round 3

Finally, there’s one more book with writing of mine in that I wanted to tell you about. This one actually came out a few months ago, and I’ve mentioned it in passing a couple of times, but since I’m on a “shameless self-promotion of anthologies I’m in” roll, I wanted to take a moment to tell you about it all on its own.

Everythingyouknowaboutgodiswrong
It’s the enormous new tome from Disinformation, Everything You Know about God Is Wrong: The Disinformation Guide to Religion. A collection of critical, skeptical, irreverent, and sometimes just plain hilariously snarky writing on organized religion, the book is enormous, sprawling with a huge assortment of writing on an exhuberant variety of topics. Some of the concepts will be familiar to regular readers of atheist books and blogs (the piece on the religious beliefs of the Founding Fathers, for instance, should be a surprise to exactly none of you). But quite a bit of it was news to me. This is the book where I got the bit about the Virgin Mary getting impregnated in her ear; and I’m embarassed to admit that I hadn’t heard of the Ghost Dance before I read this book. And instead of primarily focusing on, say, Christianity or Islam, it covers gobs of different religions and religious beliefs, in an “I don’t discriminate, I dislike everybody equally” philosophy that’s badly needed in godless writing.

Everything_you_know_is_wrong
You should definitely read this book with a careful and skeptical eye. Disinformation has a tendency to use the “throw everything into the soup pot” approach to book editing, especially with the huge sprawling tomes they’re known for, and past books have included work that’s definitely been on the credulous, conspiracy- theory side. So don’t automatically believe everything you read in it. That being said, it’s still a fine book, smart and funny and informative about all sorts of weird shit, an excellent addition to any godless book collection. And they were kind enough to include my piece Comforting Thoughts About Death That Have Nothing To Do With God, which I’m obviously very pleased about.

But there’s one feature of this book that stands out for me more than any other. And that is this:

Richard Dawkins also has a piece in this book. A funny, snarky piece making an analogy between religion and drugs.

In other words:

Richard_dawkins
I’m in a book with Dawkins!

I’m in a book with Dawkins, I’m in a book with Dawkins, I’m in a book with Dawkins!

I’m all a-twitter with girlish glee. Imagine excitedly fluttering hands and a happy little Snoopy dance. I am tickled pink about this, all out of proportion to how important it really is.

I’m in a book with Dawkins.

Tee-hee!

Everything You Know about God Is Wrong: The Disinformation Guide to Religion: Shameless Self-Promotion, Round 3

The Best of Best American Erotica 2008, 15th Anniversary Edition: Shameless Self-Promotion, Round 2

Best_of_best_american_erotica_2008
And I wanted to tell you about yet another book that I have writing in. I am very proud to have been included in the most recent edition of Best American Erotica: the special 15th anniversary Best of Best American Erotica 2008, collecting the standout authors and stories from the history of the series (along with a few previously unpublished gems).

This one is actually rather bittersweet, as this special volume of Best American Erotica is also going to be the last one in the series. This is a fucking tragedy for serious erotica readers and writers. As a reader, the world of erotic fiction is way too oversaturated right now, with far too many erotica anthologies on the market and, frankly, not enough good writing to fill them all up. Best American Erotica was always a treasure trove: I didn’t always love every single piece in every single volume, but the quality was always consistently high, even when it didn’t happen to be to my taste. And my tastes were often expanded by the stories in BAE, sometimes to my great surprise. I’m going to miss it sorely.

Computer_keyboard
And as a writer, the world of erotic fiction is, alas, neither prestigious enough nor lucrative enough to justify the enormous amount of time and work I typically put into a porn story. But inclusion in Best American Erotica made it both. (Barely lucrative enough… but definitely prestigious enough.) Personally, I almost always wrote my porn fiction with a hopeful eye towards getting it into BAE — and I can’t be the only writer that’s been true for. Without BAE, it’s going to be awfully damn hard to convince myself that writing porn is worth it anymore. Again, I’m going to miss it sorely. Kudos to series editor Susie Bright for blazing the trail and keeping the light burning for so long.

The Best of Best American Erotica 2008, 15th Anniversary Edition: Shameless Self-Promotion, Round 2

Best Sex Writing 2008: Shameless Self-Promotion, Round 1

Note to family members and others who don’t want to know about my personal sex life: This post mentions my personal sex life. It doesn’t talk about it in any great detail, but it mentions aspects of my personal sex life that may be seriously too much information. If you don’t want to know about that stuff, please don’t read this post.

Best_sex_writing_2008
I wanted to take a few moments to tell you about a new book that I have an essay in. The book is Best Sex Writing 2008, and it’s exactly what it sounds like: an anthology of non-fiction writing about sex. Edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel, the book has a really good assortment of smart and interesting writing, on an almost hilariously wide range of topics: from black male porn stars to online sex predators, from sex on wedding nights to sex in Iran. (The sex in Iran piece may be my favorite. Other than mine, of course. And maybe even including mine.)

My piece is titled “Buying Obedience: My Visit to a Pro Submissive.” And the title is also pretty self-explanatory: it’s a detailed descriptive essay about, well, my visit to a pro submissive: why I did it, how it worked, what we did, what it was like, whether I’d do it again. I think it’s one of the best pieces I’ve written, and it’s on a topic that doesn’t get written about much: for all the reams and tomes that have been written about sex work in recent years, very little has been written from the customer’s point of view.

If that interests you, or if you just want a good, smart read about sex, I encourage you to check it out. Enjoy!

Best Sex Writing 2008: Shameless Self-Promotion, Round 1

“Variety in itself is arousing”: My Podcast Interview with Radio Blowfish

Bec_2008
Check out the podcast interview that just went up on Radio Blowfish! In the interview, we talk a lot about adult comics in general, porn in even more general, and my new book Best Erotic Comics 2008 in particular. Among other things, I talk about why I think comics are almost an ideal form for erotica, why I think variety is so important in porn collections, and how I went about finding the comics I chose for the anthology. It’s fun, it’s chatty, and it’s not too long (about 10 minutes or so — I forgot to time it when I was listening).

If any of this sounds interesting to you — or if you’ve been reading my blog and are curious about the dulcet sounds of my voice — you can visit the main Radio Blowfish site (my interview is Episode 73, at the top of the dial as of this writing), or you can go directly to the listen and download page.

FYI, some of the material is sexually explicit. Like, duh. So you may or may not want to listen to it at your job, depending on where you work. Enjoy!

“Variety in itself is arousing”: My Podcast Interview with Radio Blowfish

Dirty Comics Re-enactment! New York “Best Erotic Comics” Event, Wed. March 5

Bec_new_york_event_flyer_2

It is killing me that I can’t be there for this event. So I’m hoping my New York friends and blog readers go for me, and tell me all about it.

It’s a Best Erotic Comics 2008 New York launch party and benefit for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund… in which performers will be re-enacting stories from the anthology.

Loki in heaven, I wish I could go.

New York’s funniest comedians will “act out” BEC stories by Colleen Coover (“A Bondage Tale”), Jessica Fink (“Cassie’s Bush”), Ellen Forney (“Your Handy Map to Erogenous Zones”), Justin Hall (“Birthday Fuck”), Ralf Konig (“Roy & Al: Sniffing Around”), Erica Erika Moen (“Silver Bullet”), and Dori Seda (“Fuck Story”). Listen, laugh, squirm, and get turned on as they treat you to a night of sex and comedy you won’t soon forget. Hosted by Rachael Parenta, the event will feature comedians Dan Allen, Sara Benincasa, Jon Friedman, Margot Leitman, Matt McCarthy, Giulia Rozzi and Bex Schwartz.

The event is at the Parkside Lounge, 317 E. Houston Street in NYC, Wednesday March 5 starting at 7:30 pm. Admission is a $10 suggested donation to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. It’s for 21 and over only, with a 2 drink minimum. For more info, visit the CBLDF website.

If you’re in the New York area, please please please go… and please tell me how it went. I’m dying to know.

Dirty Comics Re-enactment! New York “Best Erotic Comics” Event, Wed. March 5

“Stories I wanted to tell”: An Interview with “Best Erotic Comics” Artist Trina Robbins

Bec_2008_2
And welcome to the second in a series of interviews with the artists of Best Erotic Comics 2008. Today’s interview is with one of the book’s Hall of Fame artists, Trina Robbins. I’ve been an admirer of Trina for many years, both as a comic artist and as a historian. The author of The Great Women Cartoonists, The Great Women Superheroes, and From Girls to Grrlz : A History of Women’s Comics from Teens to Zines, as well as many other titles, Trina has been a powerful influence on the comics scene since the underground days. I was thrilled to have her work in Best Erotic Comics 2008, and even more thrilled to interview her here in my blog.

BTW, Trina will be one of the panelists at tonight’s Best Erotic Comics 2008 launch party, Thursday 2/28 at 7pm at the Cartoon Art Museum, 655 Mission Street in San Francisco. Come by and say howdy!

Greta: Thanks so much for agreeing to be interviewed! Tell me about your piece. What inspired it, what were you trying to accomplish with it, etc.? I know why I like your piece and why I included it in the anthology — but what do you think makes it stand out?

Pets
Trina: Nothing heavy, really, just: what if the tables were turned and WE were the pets? Not even really an animal rights story, because I certainly am not opposed to neutering pets — at least until someone invents tiny kitty kondoms. Our two cats are neutered — they’re a male and female — and sometimes the poor dears get an inkling of an idea about what they’re supposed to do, and they assume position, the male biting the neck of the female, but then they can’t remember what comes next and they just kind of stand there. It’s funny in a pathetic way. My partner calls it the love that can’t remember its name.

And tell me a little about the history of this piece. You originally drew it in 1978, but it’s being published for the first time here. Can you tell me the story about that?

Yeah, back in ’78 I had done some illustration for this men’s mag, and I got along nicely with the editor. I sent him a sketch for the comic and he liked it and gave me the go-ahead, but by the time I finished the piece, he’d been fired and the new editor wanted nothing to do with anyone the old editor had worked with. So it has sat in my file cabinet till I heard from you.

Well, I’m so glad I could help it to see the light of day! Since you bring up men’s magazine, I wanted to ask: Do you see erotic comics as a separate genre from mainstream comics? Or do you see your erotic work as being an integral part of the comics world?

Wet_satin_2
Well, they obviously ain’t mainstream. But comics are comics (or comix) and there are many different kinds and they’re all valid.

And when you’re creating sex comics, is it important to you that they be arousing to the audience? Or are you focused entirely on other artistic goals?

I’ve done so few sex comics! I’ve certainly never done any with arousal of my readers in mind — they’ve always simply been stories I wanted to tell.

Since you have done non-erotic comics as well as erotic ones, I’m curious: How has your adult work affected how your non-adult work is received? Has it made it harder to get your non-erotic work published or recognized? Easier? Or has it had no effect at all?

Far more non-erotic than erotic! But I don’t think one ever affected the other.

You’ve been doing comics — both adult and non-adult — for a long time, since the early days of the underground comics era. How do you think adult comics have changed since then? And how have those changes affected your own work over the years?

Lust
I’m not an enormous readers of erotic comics, but the impression I get is that first of all, there are genuine women drawing erotic comics now, so you’ve got a different viewpoint than you had 35 years ago, and also of the ones done by men, I think far less of them are the kind I’ve always objected to — the kind where rape and torture of women is portrayed as something cool and/or amusing. I’m sure you know that there are people who have accused me of being a censor simply because I have objected to comics that portray rape as funny. Those people don’t quite get it that objecting to something is not the same as censoring it.

On that topic — not the topic of censorship, but the topic of the changing world of adult comics: Do you think the increasing acceptance of comics as a serious art/ literary form has affected sex comics? Has it made it easier for adult comic artists to work? Or are artists less willing to do sex comics for fear of not being taken seriously… whereas 30 years ago they didn’t care because they weren’t getting any respect anyway?

Rent_girl
Certainly there are some excellent graphic novels out now that deal with sex and that are widely respected. Michelle Tea’s Rent Girl comes to mind, as well as Phoebe Gloeckner’s books. And those books are definitely taken seriously.

Do you find that working on adult comics is an erotic experience? Or when you’re doing the drawing, are you just focused on the craft of your work rather than the eroticism of the scene you’re creating?

As I said before, I’m focused on telling a story. I find the idea of people as pets being allowed to mate before being neutered ironic rather than erotic!

And finally — what are you working on now?

Gogirl_cover
I’ve been writing educational graphic novels for kids and they are definitely not erotic! They’re meant for the classroom, as teachers and librarians have become aware that kids are reading less, but that kids WILL read graphic novels. Some of them came out very well, thanks to a bunch of good artists: the stories of Hedy Lamarr, drawn by Cynthia Martin; Bessie Coleman, the first African American woman to get her pilot’s license, drawn by Ken Steacy;and Florence Nightingale, drawn by Anne Timmons, with whom I also team up for our ongoing graphic novel series, GoGirl! I just finished adapting a Ray Bradbury story into graphic novel form for Scholastic, and this Spring Anne Timmons and I will be doing a graphic novel adaptation of Little Women — like I said, definitely not erotic!

Web_pic
Retired cartoonist Trina Robbins has been writing books and comics for over thirty years. Aside from writing about women cartoonists, she has written books about dark goddesses, Irish women, and women who kill.

Previous posts in this series:
“That’s the fun of it”: An Interview with “Best Erotic Comics” Artist Justin Hall

“Stories I wanted to tell”: An Interview with “Best Erotic Comics” Artist Trina Robbins

“Things to be angry about”: Google Poetry

Computer_keyboard
Saw this at An Apostate’s Chapel, and I loved it, so I’m doing my own version. The concept: Compose a poem, a more or less coherent one, using search terms that people used to arrive at your blog. It’s an entertainingly eerie exercise, and while I am generally a suck poet, I think that mine freakishly captures the essence, both of my blog and of my current mental and emotional state.

I did mine as a set of quasi-haikus. And yes, the title is also a search term that was used to find my blog. (No images for this one, btw; I want the images of the poem to speak for themselves, or some such poetry blather.) Enjoy — and if you’re inspired to do your own, please feel free to post the link in the comments!

things to be angry about
by Greta Christina

prayer of looking after someone
pray for someone with terminal illness
now with 40% more design

galileo nonconformist
letters of comfort in terminal sickness
slut

weird photos of naked girls
let’s see some women with nice asses that like sex
girls fuck with fruits

Harry potter porn for adults
flintstones having sex
simpsons make sex look like church

marriage no sex
sex fun
deliberately fucking with me weird shit coincidence

has barack obama voted for same sex marriage
Why does Barack Obama feel wrong to me?
if it’s different it’s wrong

perfect porn
spanking her on her bare bottom
he spanked her and then started to lick her pussy

blue eyed cats
55th Academy Awards Ceremony
keep fresh bread fresh

attempting Reason
strange and terrible earthly coincidences
you have the right to your own truth

agnostic grace
atheist rant
i just became an atheist

list of reasons why parents argue with their children
children thinking thoughts of death
the meaning of death

i have weird thoughts about death
fear of being dead forever
FEAR OF DEATH

“Things to be angry about”: Google Poetry

“That’s the fun of it”: An Interview with “Best Erotic Comics” Artist Justin Hall

Bec_2008_2
I’m very proud and happy to present the first in a series of interviews with the artists of Best Erotic Comics 2008. One of the things I’m most proud of with this book is the wide variety of first-rate comic artists I was able to showcase, and I was thrilled to have the chance to talk with some of them directly and find out more about how they work, how they approach comics in general and dirty comics in particular.

Today’s interview is with Justin Hall, best known for his True Travel Tales comic series, and known to Best Erotic Comics readers as the artist of the sweet, kinky, hilarious, and seriously dirty “Birthday Fuck.” Justin and I talked about the comics industry, the sex industry, the challenge of telling true stories, the balance of arousal and artistry in erotica, and lots more.

Please note: Some of the content of this interview, and some of the images illustrating it, are not appropriate for minors. If you’re under 18, please do not continue reading.

Continue reading ““That’s the fun of it”: An Interview with “Best Erotic Comics” Artist Justin Hall”

“That’s the fun of it”: An Interview with “Best Erotic Comics” Artist Justin Hall