On Being an Atheist Writing Religious Porn, and Extended Excerpt from ”Penitence as a Perpetual Motion Machine”: Guest Post on WWJTD?

You wanna know the weird thing? It’s not so much that I’m an atheist who writes porn about religion. It’s that I didn’t even start writing porn about religion until I became an atheist. Becoming an atheist is, apparently, a major part of what made me want to write religious porn in the first place.

^^^^^

“I’m here to see Sister Catherine.”

“Yes. It’s nice to see you again, Mary. Please have a seat. Catherine has just finished up with another — visitor. Why don’t we take care of business now. She’ll be with you in a moment.”
Mary Elizabeth nods. She hands the woman behind the desk four hundred dollars in cash, and sits, keeping her coat on and her purse clutched in her lap. She tries not to look at the lobby: the garish red and black decor, the velveteen curtains tied back with steel chains, the worn spot on the black leather sofa. It makes it harder for her to think of this the way she needs to think of it. She sits, and stares at her knuckles gripping the handle of her purse, and waits.

“Mary Elizabeth. Please come in.”

Catherine has stepped into the lobby. She is dressed, as always for their meetings, in a modified modern habit: the knee-length gray dress, the heavy hose and sensible shoes, the small, unimposing wimple. She has carefully wiped all traces of makeup from her face.

She takes Mary Elizabeth by the hand, and leads her to the now-familiar room, the one fitted up like a schoolroom. An office or rectory would have been better, but this was the closest they had.

“Sit down, Mary. We have to have a difficult conversation.”

^^^^^

Bending cover
To read the rest of this essay, and the rest of this extended excerpt from the dirty story ”Penitence as a Perpetual Motion Machine,” go to On Being an Atheist Writing Religious Porn, my guest post on JT Eberhad’s blog, WWJTD?

Here’s the deal: I’m doing a blog tour for my new erotic fiction collection, “Bending: Dirty Kinky Stories About Pain, Power, Religion, Unicorns, & More.” Today’s installment in the tour is a guest post, an essay by me on the weirdness of being an atheist who writes porn about religion — along with an extended excerpt from one of my pieces of religious porn, Penitence as a Perpetual Motion Machine — on JT Eberhard’s blog, WWJTD?

And remember — the book is currently available an an ebook on Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords. Audiobook and paperback are coming soon!

Previous stops on this blog tour:

6/3:
Ozy Frantz’s Blog: Is Erotic Shame Real Shame? (guest post by me)
Ozy Frantz’s Blog: Christian Domestic Discipline (extended excerpt)

Ozy Frantz has taken down their blog. These posts have now been reprinted on my own blog:
Is Erotic Shame “Real” Shame? (essay)
Excerpt from Christian Domestic Discipline (extended excerpt)

6/4:
Brute Reason: Greta Christina on Writing Dirty Stories (interview with Miri)

6/5:
Rachel Kramer Bussel’s “Lusty Lady” Blog: Craig’s List (extended excerpt)

6/7:
Charlie Glickman’s Blog: “Discover just how far sexy goes” (brief review/ blurb)

On Being an Atheist Writing Religious Porn, and Extended Excerpt from ”Penitence as a Perpetual Motion Machine”: Guest Post on WWJTD?
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Is Erotic Shame "Real" Shame?

This originally appeared as a guest post on Ozy Frantz’s Blog. Ozy has taken down their blog, so I am reprinting it here instead.

When we eroticize shame… is the shame “real”?

Expand that. When we eroticize powerlessness, helplessness, cruelty, punishment, power-hunger, fear… are these experiences “real”?

Bending cover
Here’s what I mean. I’ve just come out with a porn fiction book, “Bending: Dirty Kinky Stories About Pain, Power, Religion, Unicorns, & More.” (Available as an eboook on Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords: audiobook and print editions coming soon.) The book is, as you might have guessed from the title, pretty darned kinky: it includes dirty stories, meant to be hot and exciting and pleasurable, about fear, helplessness, cruelty, punishment, control-freakery… and shame. (In some cases they’re descriptions of consensual SM scenes; in some cases, they’re fantasies about borderline consent or non-consent.)

I’ve been promoting the book on Facebook, with excerpts. This promotion has resulted in some… conversations, with people who are unfamiliar with kink and are weirded out about how stories depicting such obviously negative experiences could possibly be considered pleasurable by anyone who’s emotionally healthy. And one person in one of those conversations made an argument I’ve seen a number of times — that the shame experienced in consensual SM scenes isn’t “real” shame.

It’s a point I’ve seen made by other kinky and pro-kinky people: SM shame isn’t “real” shame — it’s play-acting, pretend. The line from Dan Savage gets quoted sometimes (it got quoted in the Facebook conversation I’m talking about): that “BDSM is cops and robbers for grownups.” Even eroticized pain sometimes gets referred to by kinksters as “intense sensation” rather than pain.

And I started thinking: Is this true? Continue reading “Is Erotic Shame "Real" Shame?”

Is Erotic Shame "Real" Shame?

"Christian Domestic Discipline": Extended Excerpt

This originally appeared as a guest post on Ozy Frantz’s Blog. Ozy has taken down their blog, so I am reprinting it here instead.

Bending cover
This is an extended excerpt from story “Christian Domestic Discipline,” one of the stories in “Bending: Dirty Kinky Stories About Pain, Power, Religion, Unicorns, & More” by Greta Christina. Available as an eboook on Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords: audiobook and print editions coming soon.

She sometimes forgets that this was her idea.

She’s getting confused about this, and she forgets that she’s the one who talked him into it. She forgets that she’s the one who found the Website, with the handbook and the Bible quotes and the stories: all that stuff about how God wants husbands to decide and wives to obey, how it was God’s will for a husband to physically chastise his wife, how it restored the natural order of a marriage for a husband to spank his wife when she misbehaves. She forgets how intriguing she found it: like an adventure in marriage, an exciting secret with God’s blessing. She forgets how eager she was to show him the stories: the devotion of the rituals, the constant cycles of defiance and penitence, the loving attention to the physical details of implements and undergarments and bare bottoms being revealed. All by command of the inerrant word of God. Continue reading “"Christian Domestic Discipline": Extended Excerpt”

"Christian Domestic Discipline": Extended Excerpt

"Bending" Audiobook Is Happening!

Bending cover
The audiobook for “Bending: Dirty Kinky Stories About Pain, Power, Religion, Unicorns, & More” is happening! It’s being done through Audible, and should be available in all the usual Audible channels, including Amazon and iTunes. I’ll let you know as soon as the audiobook is available for sale.

And yes, I’m doing the recording, in my own voice and everything. The recording happens next week. Yaaaay!

If you can’t wait that long, the book is currently available an an ebook on Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords. And a paperback print edition is in the works as well!

And for all you audiobook fans: The audiobook version of “Why Are You Atheists So Angry? 99 Things That Piss Off the Godless” is also available at Audible, iTunes, and Amazon. And yes, I did the recording for this one as well. I am woman, hear me rant!

"Bending" Audiobook Is Happening!

Craig's List: Extended Excerpt on Rachel Kramer Bussel’s "Lusty Lady" Blog on the “Bending” Blog Tour

On her 24th birthday, she decided there were three things she wanted to do before she turned 25. Sexual things. All three involved taking stupid risks, putting her body into the hands of people she knew nothing about and had no reason to trust. All three involved Craig’s List.

*****

Bending cover
To read the rest of this excerpt, go to Excerpt from Craig’s List, my guest post on Rachel Kramer Bussel’s Lusty Lady blog.

Here’s the deal: I’m doing a blog tour for my new erotic fiction collection, “Bending: Dirty Kinky Stories About Pain, Power, Religion, Unicorns, & More.” Today’s installment in the tour is on Rachel Kramer Bussel’s Lusty Lady blog — an extended excerpt from the story “Craig’s List”. Many thanks to Ozy for taking part in this tour!

And remember — the book is currently available an an ebook on Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords. Audiobook and paperback are coming soon!

Previous stops on this blog tour:

6/3:
Ozy Frantz’s Blog: Is Erotic Shame Real Shame? (guest post by me)
Ozy Frantz’s Blog: Christian Domestic Discipline (extended excerpt)

Ozy Frantz has taken down their blog. These posts have now been reprinted on my own blog:
Is Erotic Shame “Real” Shame? (essay)
Excerpt from Christian Domestic Discipline (extended excerpt)

6/4:
Brute Reason: Greta Christina on Writing Dirty Stories (interview with Miri)

Craig's List: Extended Excerpt on Rachel Kramer Bussel’s "Lusty Lady" Blog on the “Bending” Blog Tour

"Sexuality can be so personal": Interview with Miri of Brute Reason on the “Bending” Blog Tour

1. What’s your favorite thing about writing dirty stories? What’s the most challenging thing about it?

I have two favorite things. The first is the challenge as a writer. Can I shape my sexual fantasies into writing, in a way that other people find compelling? Sexuality can be so personal: our own fantasies are so exciting to us, but just describing them doesn’t automatically make them exciting to other people. Even if our fantasies overlap with other people’s fantasies, even if what pushes our buttons pushes other people’s buttons — just a description of what happens in the fantasy isn’t enough to make it exciting. Not to me, anyway. I have to find the real core, what exactly it is about this fantasy that makes it hot for me. That’s really interesting. It’s like therapy.

The other favorite thing is that it gets me off. Sinking deep into a sex fantasy, spending hours with it, closely examining it to find out what makes it hot… it makes my clit hard just thinking about it.

The most challenging things are very closely related to my favorite things…

*****

Bending cover
To read the rest of this interview, go to Greta Christina on Writing Dirty Stories, my interview with Miri on the Brute Reason blog.

Here’s the deal: I’m doing a blog tour for my new erotic fiction collection, “Bending: Dirty Kinky Stories About Pain, Power, Religion, Unicorns, & More.” Today’s installment in the tour comes from Miri, of the Brute Reason blog — an in-depth interview with me, in which we talk about what’s fun and hard about writing dirty stories, whether writing smut has changed how I think about sexuality, how my views of religion shaped the religious porn in the book, my favorite story in the collection, the most difficult one to write (surprise! they’re the same), whether stories like mine can help de-stigmatize kink, the ethical obligations of porn writers, and what exactly the deal is with “The Unicorn and the Rainbow.” Many thanks to Miri for taking part in this tour!

And remember — the book is currently available an an ebook on Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords. Audiobook and paperback are coming soon!

Previous stops on this blog tour:

6/3:
Ozy Frantz’s Blog: Is Erotic Shame Real Shame? (guest post by me)
Ozy Frantz’s Blog: Christian Domestic Discipline (extended excerpt)

Ozy Frantz has taken down their blog. These posts have now been reprinted on my own blog:
Is Erotic Shame “Real” Shame? (essay)
Excerpt from Christian Domestic Discipline (extended excerpt)

"Sexuality can be so personal": Interview with Miri of Brute Reason on the “Bending” Blog Tour

Is Erotic Shame "Real" Shame? Guest Post on Ozy Frantz's Blog on the “Bending” Blog Tour

When we eroticize shame… is the shame “real”?

Expand that. When we eroticize powerlessness, helplessness, cruelty, punishment, power-hunger, fear… are these experiences “real”?

Here’s what I mean. I’ve just come out with a porn fiction book, “Bending: Dirty Kinky Stories About Pain, Power, Religion, Unicorns, & More.” (Available as an eboook on Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords: audiobook and print editions coming soon.) The book is, as you might have guessed from the title, pretty darned kinky: it includes dirty stories, meant to be hot and exciting and pleasurable, about fear, helplessness, cruelty, punishment, control-freakery… and shame. (In some cases they’re descriptions of consensual SM scenes; in some cases, they’re fantasies about borderline consent or non-consent.)

I’ve been promoting the book on Facebook, with excerpts. This promotion has resulted in some… conversations, with people who are unfamiliar with kink and are weirded out about how stories depicting such obviously negative experiences could possibly be considered pleasurable by anyone who’s emotionally healthy. And one person in one of those conversations made an argument I’ve seen a number of times — that the shame experienced in consensual SM scenes isn’t “real” shame.

It’s a point I’ve seen made by other kinky and pro-kinky people: SM shame isn’t “real” shame — it’s play-acting, pretend. The line from Dan Savage gets quoted sometimes (it got quoted in the Facebook conversation I’m talking about): that “BDSM is cops and robbers for grownups.” Even eroticized pain sometimes gets referred to by kinksters as “intense sensation” rather than pain.

And I started thinking: Is this true?

*****

Bending cover
To read the rest of this excerpt, go to Is Erotic Shame “Real” Shame?, my guest post on Ozy Frantz’s Blog.

Here’s the deal: I’m doing a blog tour for my new erotic fiction collection, “Bending: Dirty Kinky Stories About Pain, Power, Religion, Unicorns, & More.” The first installments in the tour come from Ozy Frantz, of Ozy Frantz’s Blog — including a guest post by me, Is Erotic Shame “Real” Shame?, sparked by the content of much of the book and by some of the responses to it. Many thanks to Ozy for taking part in this tour!

UPDATE: Ozy Frantz has taken down their blog. This post has now been reprinted on my own blog:
Is Erotic Shame “Real” Shame? (essay)

And remember — the book is currently available an an ebook on Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords. Audiobook and paperback are coming soon!

Is Erotic Shame "Real" Shame? Guest Post on Ozy Frantz's Blog on the “Bending” Blog Tour

Christian Domestic Discipline: Extended Excerpt on Ozy Frantz's Blog on the "Bending" Blog Tour

She sometimes forgets that this was her idea.

She’s getting confused about this, and she forgets that she’s the one who talked him into it. She forgets that she’s the one who found the Website, with the handbook and the Bible quotes and the stories: all that stuff about how God wants husbands to decide and wives to obey, how it was God’s will for a husband to physically chastise his wife, how it restored the natural order of a marriage for a husband to spank his wife when she misbehaves. She forgets how intriguing she found it: like an adventure in marriage, an exciting secret with God’s blessing. She forgets how eager she was to show him the stories: the devotion of the rituals, the constant cycles of defiance and penitence, the loving attention to the physical details of implements and undergarments and bare bottoms being revealed. All by command of the inerrant word of God.

*****

Bending cover
To read the rest of this excerpt, go to Christian Domestic Discipline, my guest post on Ozy Frantz’s Blog.

Here’s the deal: I’m doing a blog tour for my new erotic fiction collection, “Bending: Dirty Kinky Stories About Pain, Power, Religion, Unicorns, & More.” The first installments in the tour come from Ozy Frantz, of Ozy Frantz’s Blog, including an extended excerpt from the story Christian Domestic Discipline. Many thanks to Ozy for taking part in this tour!

UPDATE: Ozy Frantz has taken down their blog. This post has now been reprinted on my own blog:
Excerpt from Christian Domestic Discipline (extended excerpt)

And remember — the book is currently available an an ebook on Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords. Audiobook and paperback are coming soon!

Christian Domestic Discipline: Extended Excerpt on Ozy Frantz's Blog on the "Bending" Blog Tour

"Bending" Blog Tour — Schedule With Links

Bending cover
I’m doing a blog tour for my new erotic fiction collection, “Bending: Dirty Kinky Stories About Pain, Power, Religion, Unicorns, & More.” Many bloggers have been kind enough to agree to post about the book, one each day for the next couple/ few weeks. They’re posting reviews, interviews with me, guest posts from me, extended excerpts from the book, and more.

This post lists all the posts in the blog tour thus far. I’ll be updating it every time a new post in the tour goes up. If you want to see (or link to) all the pieces in the tour — this is the place to do it!

And remember — the book is currently available an an ebook on Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords. Audiobook and paperback are coming soon!

6/3:
Ozy Frantz’s Blog: Is Erotic Shame Real Shame? (guest post by me)
Ozy Frantz’s Blog: Christian Domestic Discipline (extended excerpt)

Ozy Frantz has taken down their blog. These posts have now been reprinted on my own blog:
Is Erotic Shame “Real” Shame? (essay)
Excerpt from Christian Domestic Discipline (extended excerpt)

6/4:
Brute Reason: Greta Christina on Writing Dirty Stories (interview with Miri)

6/5:
Lusty Lady, Rachel Kramer Bussell: Excerpt from Craig’s List (extended excerpt)

6/7:
Charlie Glickman’s Blog: “Discover just how far sexy goes” (brief review/ blurb)

6/10:
WWJTD? JT Eberhard: On Being an Atheist Writing Religious Porn, plus Excerpt from Penitence as a Perpetual Motion Machine (guest post by me, plus extended excerpt)

6/12:
Passions and Provocations, Pam Rosenthal (a.k.a. Molly Weatherfield): How to Read a Remarkable Work of Erotica (review/ essay)

6/13:
Curvacious Dee’s Blog: Bent Fiction, plus Excerpt from Doing It Over (review, plus extended excerpt)’

6/13:
Susie Bright’s Journal: Pain, Kink, Shame — and a Unicorn Chaser. Greta Christina’s New Erotic Epic! (brief review and extended excerpt from “The Shame Photos”)

6/14:
En Tequila Es Verdad, Dana Hunter: Why Is Kink Fun? (guest post by me)

6/18:
Under His Hand, Kaya’s blog: Excerpt from This Week (extended excerpts)

6/19:
Heina, Skepchick: Why Atheists Say “God” When They Have Sex (essay)

6/21:
Girl on the Net: Someone else’s story (essay/ review, with extended excerpt from the book’s introduction)

6/23:
Trollop Salon, Alison Tyler’s interview blog: Greta Christina is in the Salon! (interview plus excerpt)

6/25:
io9: How to Write a Sex Scene Between a Unicorn and a Rainbow (guest post)

6/27:
Maggie Mayhem’s blog: 5 Things That Piss Off This Godless Pervert (guest post)

"Bending" Blog Tour — Schedule With Links

Godless Perverts Social Meetup Now A Regular Thing! Next One This Tuesday 5/21!

Reminder: The Godless Perverts Social Meetup is now a regular thing! And the next one is this Tuesday!

Wicked Grounds icon
Join us every third Tuesday of the month at Wicked Grounds, San Francisco’s renowned BDSM-themed coffee house, for an evening of conversation and socializing. Community is one of the reasons we started Godless Perverts. There are few enough places to land when you decide that you’re an atheist; far fewer if you’re also LGBT, queer, kinky, poly, trans, or are just interested in sexuality. All orientations, genders, and kinks (or lack thereof) welcome. There’s no admission, but we ask that you buy food and drink at the counter, or make a donation to the venue.

The Godless Perverts Social Meetup will be every third Tuesday at Wicked Grounds, 289 – 8th Street at Folsom (near Civic Center BART). The next one: May 21st, 7-9 pm. Hope to see you there!

Godless Perverts Social Meetup Now A Regular Thing! Next One This Tuesday 5/21!