Aishling Morgan's Blog, page 3

I do hope this is all worth it...

I've just spent three days working on promotional pictures for my new novel, The Training of Tabitha. It's the re-launch title for Nexus Books, which I'm now editing as well as writing for, and I'm very pleased with it. It's a little harder than The Brat and the Master, but still essentially a romance as well as a sort of kinky road trip, with the plot developing as the characters travel around France, although to say why would give too much away. This is the cover -



- which is okay, but really chosen to avoid problems with online retailers, who're increasingly reluctant to accept openly erotic covers. I'd wanted to do my own, and as one of the many themes of the book is absinthe, that also seemed a good theme for the shoot. I spent half a day finding a good location, then advertised for a model on PurplePort, which is the best online model site in the UK at present. I chose Faith, who was nothing less than superb, providing me with all the shots I could possibly have needed and never once complaining despite spending two hours clambering over tree trunks in the nude deep in the English Woods. Here's one of the raw pics -



- one of many with a glass of absinthe before providing over one hundred dance poses as the absinthe fairy, of which this is my favourite -



- although it was tricky to work with and didn't make the final cut of three. I then spent the best part of two days editing to create a series of posters in the style of old fashioned absinthe labels, which in turn relates back to the story and one of the characters, Sakina, who looks like Faith. And so - insert drum roll) - we have, with and without absinthe fairies -





I do hope you like them!

Attention all Pony-Girl fans!

There is a serious treat in store for all fans of pony-girl erotica, three of the finest pony-girl novels now published as a trilogy, with over 200,000 words of pure, glorious smut delivered with some of the best story telling around. The pony-girl collection -



- combines A Taste of Amber, Penny in Harness and Tie and Tease. For those who haven't come across Penny Birch, that means a host of wonderfully drawn characters and some seriously kinky sex woven together in a history that now spreads over decades. With these three books pony-girl play is the major themes, and that includes what are probably the most intense scenes ever written, but there's also lots of spanking and some of just about everything anybody who appreciates fem-sub erotica could possibly want. The Pony Girl Collection is £7.12 on amazon uk - http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Pony-Girl... and $10.92 on amazon.com - http://www.amazon.com/The-Pony-Girl-C...

That may seem a lot when most thing seems to be going for a few pennies or cents, but this is classic erotica.

Spanking for Pleasure and Guides in Genral

Everything seems to be very slow at the moment, and this doesn't even have a proper cover, but it is out there so I'm going to post anyway.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17...

I love writing guides, especially illustrated ones as that gives me a chance to get out and take lots of kinky pictures. Here's one of the less cheeky ones from the guide, which I hope won't get me into trouble -



It's from the section on spanking positions, which is something I've done quite a lot on, with several articles published (one in Slap, Tickle and Tie - http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13...) and I'm aiming to do a sort of bumper book of spanking positions with fifty different ones. There's lots more too, original pictures from a dozen photosets, an introduction on how to find a partner and manage spanking within a relationship - which I've now been doing for 30 years - followed by lots of tips on how to get the most out of it, from anticipation to aftercare. I'd like to think it's well worth having, especially for £1.99 or $2.97 on amazon, and not just for the pretty pictures. But as a reviewer recently pointed out for my basic guide to domination and submission, it's all out there on the net. Well, it is, I suppose, but then, so is just about everything else. So do you feel guides are worthwhile, or has it all been done?

The Bitch Strap

I have three new titles out at the moment, but only one is currently on Goodreads, The Bitch Strap -

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15...



This is out under my Peter Birch name and from Silver Moon, so old fashioned, no-nonsense erotica rather than erotic romance, although the male and female leads do end up together. They are Todd and Scarlett, a pair of egotistical, sadistic cousins both determined to get their hands on Brockman Hall, a scenario that allowed me to have immense fun as they and the other characters try to outwit each other in a series of encounters ranging from London to Arkansas. It's packed full of erotic scenes, many quite strong and with the focus firmly on femsub and corporal punishment, so definitely not one for the faint of heart.

Coming up soon, my new illustrated guide to spanking and my first novel for the resurrected Nexus Books, The Training of Tabitha.

Peter

Shooting a Cover

I've yet to meet an author who doesn't care what's on the cover of their book, and I haven't met many who are content with what they get. When I wrote almost exclusively for Virgin Books they took the attitude that a standard, series look was more important than giving the reader any real idea of the contents, which meant a long stream of vaguely fetish related stock photographs on the covers of my books. Some were adequate, many were awful, but it wasn't until Virgin was taken over by Random House that I had any say in the creative process. Even then it was tricky, but I had a couple of successes. Xcite Books are much more accomodating, and generally happy to go along with my ideas so long I can present them with an image which is going to be acceptable to retailers. That's not as easy as it might be, as each retailer not only has their own often highly subjective rules but is likely to change them without warning. Nevertheless, I was determined to get a good cover on The Brat and the Master, which I hope I've done!

For me, the most important thing is that the cover should reflect the contents of the novel. I wanted a picture of Jasmine in her wedding dress, so the first task was to find a model who looked like her as I pictured her in my mind, and preferably own a wedding dress. She also had to have a black rose. That seemed like a tall order but proved remarkably easy. One of the first models to apply to my casting was Sami-C, who could very well have been Jasmine and owned a beautiful dress.



Luck stayed with me, as the day we'd arranged for the shoot was sunny enough to allow me to use natural light indoors, while a two hour shoot provided an abundance of images. I sent a selection of these to Xcite books, allowing them to make the final choice and design the cover, as when it comes right down to it the publisher will always want the final say. My favourite was this one -



- but they decided to go for a closer crop, or maybe a bigger bottom, from a slightly different picture. This is the result, which I like and which seems popular -



But what do you think? A recent survey suggests that pictures of objects related to the book are more popular, or perhaps a man and a woman together would be more appealing, or something less cheeky? Any thoughts would be very welcome.

My 100th book and my first blog post

How should I start? A little about myself, perhaps, but I've never really been one to stick my head above the parapet, preferring to get on with writing and leave the rest to my publishers. Besides, I always feel that I'm boasting, and trying to pretend that the vast quantity of unbridled smut I've produced over the years is actually literature. Well it is, to me. I write erotica because that's what I like to write, but I do my level best to create worthwhile scenarios and plots readers can enjoy for their own sake rather than simply stringing sex scenes together. I also put a lot of thought into my characters, visit the places I write about, try to experience what I describe and generally do my research properly, although to my immense chagrin nobody has ever challenged me on a technical point. In the old days that used to be par for course. You wrote your book and off it went, after which you heard little or nothing, because while lots of people have always liked reading erotica very few wanted to discuss what they'd read. That's all changed, with frank and open discussion on the internet and scarcely a hint of embarrassment. So I suppose I had better join in, finally.

On the shelves above my desk are the library copies of my books, ninety-nine separate, single author titles published as paperbacks for general release. When The Brat and the Master comes out in paperback next month and I receive my author's copies that will be one hundred books. I don't suppose anybody else cares in the least, and why should they? Still, it's a goal I've been climbing towards for years and would never have imagined was possible when I started writing for publication back in 1993, so maybe at the least it will inspire other writers of erotica to keep up the good work. Meanwhile, for those who enjoy my writing, you have plenty to keep you going, so enjoy!

OH, and I'm an unashamed statistics nerd, so...

100 published paperbacks, plus short stories, ebooks, technical manuals etc etc makes -

more than 8 million words, roughly twice the complete works of Charles Dickens, under -

14 different pseudonyms, I think. I keep losing track, but for -

12 separate publishers from short lived magazines to the mighty Random House, who have -

destroyed an acreage of pine forest sufficient to create 60 Eiffel Tower high stacks of books.

Then there's the one about the Olympic swimming pools, but this is a nice, polite website, so I'll leave that to your imagination.