Image via Brandon Herman.
This week’s SF Chronicle column is a writeup about controversial author Stephen Elliott‘s newly edited collection, “Sex For America: Politically Inspired Erotica“. It’s fun and revealing, especially what he has to say about sex on the campaign trail in the good ‘ol US of A… And if you’re in town, go to the opening night book party tonight at the Center for Sex and Culture for reading, burlesque and more. Snip from the midsection of Stephen Elliott’s ‘Sex for America’ — Will American politics ever be sexy? Violet Blue thinks Elliott’s new book might make it so:
(…) He’s an interesting guy; cute enough, too — we went on one heated date, knowing we’d not be seeing the last of each other professionally or otherwise anytime soon (and not just because we tend to run into each other at Kink.com parties). So when I heard his newest book — this time a collection he’s edited — was bound and about to hit the stores, it made me want to do the same to him. Metaphorically, of course.
“Sex for America: Politically Inspired Erotica” is Elliott’s latest salvo; a collection of erotic fiction by authors ranging from Jerry Stahl and Steve Almond to the local Michelle Tea and even James Frey (finally in the fiction genre, are we?), the book runs the gamut of relevant, current and, of course, transgressive political erotica.
Wait a minute. WTF is political erotica? We have ways of making editors talk. I hunted Elliott down, borrowed some gear from Madame S, and asked him a few questions about the book.
Violet Blue: “Sex for America” is your newly edited collection of erotica that gets down and dirty with American politics. What in the hell made you want to do such a thing?
Stephen Elliott: Well, “Sex for America” lies at the intersection of my two favorite topics, politics and sex. I’ve worked in politics and done a fair amount of political organizing. The first nonfiction I ever wrote was about a political campaign. Then I started writing politically inspired fiction and then did a nonfiction book about the 2004 presidential campaign, which involved spending a year traveling with all the presidential candidates. While that was going on, at the exact same time I’m really getting into politics, I start openly exploring my sexuality in my writing. The result of that was my novel “Happy Baby” and my story collection “My Girlfriend Comes to the City and Beats Me Up” (which is actually more of a sexual memoir). So “Sex for America” makes a lot of sense to me. It’s an anthology of politically inspired erotica, and the stories are amazing.
VB: Why isn’t American politics — or why aren’t our politicians — sexy? Or, if you think they are, can you tell the rest of us the reasoning behind your twisted point of view?
SE: I guess I do think American politics is sexy, and if you’ve ever been on a campaign, it’s amazing the amount of sex going on. Every campaign season dozens, no, probably hundreds of marriages are broken up by campaign affairs. It’s a totally erotic endeavor. (…)
Link.
