Nobilis Reed's Blog, page 28
December 11, 2014
Episode 316 – Crises of Faith by Elizabeth L. Brooks
Call the voicemail line: (571)297-3325
This week’s episode is sponsored by JMS Books.
“Crises of Faith” was written by Elizabeth L. Brooks and read by Tonya M. Idlewine, and originally appeared in “Whetting the Appetite”
Buy “Whetting the Appetite” on Amazon
Buy “Whetting the Appetite” on Smashwords
November 28, 2014
Episode 315 – Circlet Treasury Trifecta
This week we have three short-short stories from the Circlet Treasury Anthology.
“Shapely” written and narrated by Alicia Goranson
“Intergalactic Sexposition” written by Cesar Sanchez Zapata
and read by Wilson Fowlie
“Fruit of Knowledge” written and narrated by Andrea Trask
(Purchase links for this item coming soon, consider this a sneak peek!)
November 23, 2014
Monster Whisperer 9
Monster Whisperer 9 is available now if you have the Nobilis Erotica podcast app.
Get the app on Amazon - Get the app on iTunes
November 9, 2014
The Role of Fiction in Enthusiastic Consent
“Hey,” whispers the first, breaking off the kiss to nuzzle the second under the ear. “I want to take off your shirt. Is that okay?”
The second chuckles. “Maybe….”
“Oh,” says the first, pulling back to look into the second’s eyes, looking for sincerity. “You’re not sure?”
“Silly person,” says the second. “Of course it’s okay. But it’s more fun if you have to convince me. Earn your prize.”
The first’s eyes narrow a bit. “So you’re pretending to need to be convinced?”
“I suppose. If you want to just say it out loud like that.”
“Okay, I’m up for a little roleplay. But I need to have a way to know the difference between a pretend no and a real no. We need a safeword. So there’s no misunderstandings.”
The second’s eyes roll. “You’re weird, you know that? You’re not going to tie me up or anything.”
“I don’t think it’s weird at all.”
“Alright, fine. My safeword is ‘No.’ If I actually say ‘no,’ that’s what means stop, no, I don’t like this.”
“I can work with that.”
The second leaned back on elbows. “So come on. Convince me.”
A crooked smile grew on the first’s face. “Yes.”
Consent–full, enthusiastic, well-communicated consent–is and must be the central pillar of the sex positivity movement. We must respect not only ‘no’ but also ‘not now’ and ‘um…’ and ‘well…’ as they could be an emotional veil for a ‘no’ that dares not be voiced. There’s no doubt that this complicates matters. It means things need to be discussed that we’re not used to discussing. It means that we need to express like and dislikes, fears and desires that we often are not used to expressing. But there really is no getting around it, so we need to learn how to do it.
For many of our interpersonal interactions, we follow scripts. This goes from meeting people at a party, to asking for a date, to buying groceries, to putting children to bed. There’s a security in knowing that everyone involved tacitly understands how things are going to go. It smoothes things out to follow the script, play the game by the rules.
Culturally, however, scripts for negotiating enthusiastic consent are not widely enough understood. We generally aren’t privy to the private conversations of others, and portrayals in popular media rarely model anything close to ideal behavior. In fact, popular media often shows us the opposite; the masculine role is the hunter, always interested in sex and rarely respectful of boundaries; the feminine role is the prey, whose defenses must be worn down in order for the hunter to win his prize. In the real world, this script is toxic, and it needs to be rejected. And the only way to do that, is to write new scripts.
As a creative person, I believe that I can help to establish those scripts. Now I am by no means a widely read author, but change has to start somewhere, and if I’m not willing to commit to this idea myself, then I have no right to ask anyone else to.
Now none of this should imply that everyone should write stories where perfect people lead perfect lives and never overstep boundaries. Just the opposite. In fact, the violation of taboos is a source of tremendous drama. But when boundaries are transgressed, whether they are personal or social, that event is significant. It should have consequences. Things should happen. Lives could even change. To do otherwise should feel tremendously artificial.
Speculative fiction, especially, embodies the stories of our world as it could be, as it should or shouldn’t be, as it might have been. It can be the literature of metaphor, extrapolation, and experimentation. That context is, in my opinion, the best place to write new scripts for human interaction, and the best place to critique the old ones. It’s no accident that the first scripted interracial kiss* to appear on American television happened on a science fiction program.
So for this reason, I keep the concept of affirmative, enthusiastic consent in mind when I’m writing about sexual relationships. I consider what I’m writing in terms of the scripts it affirms or critiques, and what it says about them.
*Interesting side note: this kiss is non-consensual. For both parties.
November 7, 2014
Episode 314 – Ripped by Lynn Townsend
This episode is sponsored by JMS Books, LLC.
“Ripped” was written by Lynn Townsend and is narrated here by Nobilis Reed. Listen through to the end for a coupon code when you buy “Whetting the Appetite” at JMS Books.
Theme music is by Kevin MacLeod
October 24, 2014
Episode 331 – Dear Kim by Annabeth Leong
This week’s episode is sponsored by Circlet Press.
“Dear Kim” was written by Annabeth Leong and originally appeared in “Like a Chill Down Your Spine.”
It’s read for us by Scout.
Listen through to the end to hear a coupon code you can use to get 50% off when you buy “Like a Chill Down Your Spine” at Smashwords.
Or if you like, you can buy “Like a Chill Down Your Spine” on Amazon.
October 16, 2014
News, Feedback, and Monster Whisperer 8
A bit of news and a bit of feedback.,
For those that have the iPhone app, or the Amazon Android App, another episode of Monster Whisperer.
There’s news about Coming Together: Outside the Box
And news about folks downloading Size Matters at Audible.
October 2, 2014
Episode 312 – Cards Against Humanity
This is a recording of (most of) a Cards Against Humanity game I played with a bunch of other Erotica authors at the Mid-Atlantic Erotica Writers Retreat.
Authors present include
Listen to the episode for a special deal on my new Metamor City story, “Size Matters”
(You can also get Size Matters on iTunes!)
September 25, 2014
Episode 311 – Nightingale by Jason Rubis
Call the voicemail line at (571)297-3325
This week’s episode is sponsored by Circlet Press! The story is “Nightingale” by Jason Rubis, originally published in “Like Clockwork” from Circlet Press. Listen through to the end for a coupon code you can use when you buy Like Clockwork at Smashwords.com.
September 18, 2014
Feedback 6
I’ve got a bunch of feedback on the voicemail line (which you can call at 571-297-3325, by the way) and some really cool news: My latest Metamor City story, “Size Matters” is now available in audio form on Audible and iTunes, and in ebook form on Amazon.
Pick up “Size Matters” on Audible - Pick up “Size Matters” on Amazon
