Of Love and Literature

Recently,the queer lives and realities have been getting much more visibility than before. Many robust voices are claiming rights,demanding recognition,challenging archaic laws and mind sets. Queer literature has slowly been expanding,bringing newer kinds of writing on board. We feel the time for such a book is now.

How did you go about collecting the stories?

It took us a year to get the book together. We started in May 2011. We sent out an open call and that is how we received the submissions. At the same time,we approached a few published authors to contribute,some of whose stories are in the book. Criteria for sending a story was that it should be queer and erotic,as the authors understood the terms.

Tell us a bit about the authors and the stories?

One of the interesting aspects of this book is that most of the authors in the book are newer voices. Some of them go by pseudonyms. These authors have a very fresh take on erotica,queering it and expanding the genre of erotica per se. We have tried to be diverse and the stories reflect lesbian,bisexual,gay,trans and queer lives. The stories here are sexy,cheeky,dark,intriguing and downright hot.

Were there any interesting titles internationally that influenced this book?

We both have been following feminist author Tristan Taormino’s work on various anthologies,which she has edited with Cliess Press,US. Her work and her politics behind putting queer erotica out there,her pro-pleasure stand is something which has definitely influenced us.