Erotic Novels & Stories: Does Sex (Still) Sell?

Consider 50 Shades of Grey, the most recent entry and phenomenon in the sex book wars. I read a couple of pages at the checkout counter of a local bookstore and that was enough for me. My daughter says that she and a group of girlfriends read scenes aloud and howled. So what’s to be made of the trilogy’s 65 million in sales? Do women really crave bondage? Or is it simply that every generation needs a sex novel? When I was a boy it was Peyton Place. I was just a kid when it came out so it must have been a few years before I read it though I remember the sex scenes as if it were yesterday, bad girl Betty Anderson and rich boy Rodney Harrington on the beach, illegitimacy, incest and more. Then there was Fanny Hill, a bit flowery for my taste but it did the trick, and of course … Read more

Summer Events and Readings Coming Up

These are the upcoming reading events for the launch of my new anthology The Marijuana Chronicles by Akashic Books. 1. Tuesday, June 25 – 7-9pm, St Marks Bookshop, 31 3rd Avenue, NYC (212) 260-7853 *program starts @ 7:30 2. Sunday, August 4 – 4pm, Spotty Dog, 440 Warren Street, Hudson NY (518) 671-6006 3. September 1-2 – Bumbershoot Festival, Seattle Time TBA  (I’m afraid I can’t be there but Amanda Stern of “HappyEndings” and Maggie Estep and other contributors to the anthology will be. It’s still an event not to be missed!) 4. Tuesday, September 10 – 7pm, WORD, 126 Franklin Street, Brooklyn, (718) 383-0096

The Marijuana Chronicles Launch Contest

Here’s your chance to win this original illustration by Jonathan Santlofer from THE MARIJUANA CHRONICLES! Here’s all you have to do: 1. Buy the book. 2. Take a picture of yourself with the book (make it fun!). 3. Send us that picture one of three ways: a. Tweet the photo using the hashtag  #weedtales b. Post the photo on my Facebook Page:  https://www.facebook.com/jsantlofer c. or Submit the image to http://bak.jonathansantlofer.com/contest 4. Deadline: August 31st. Extended to October 31st. 5. Names will be placed in a hat and drawn at random. *Like they used to say on television: Family members are not eligible!

“The Peyote Factory” Short Story on Akashic Books

Today, my short story “The Peyote Factory” inaugurates Akashic Book’s “Thursdaze” Check it out on the Akashic Books Website.         The Peyote Factory By Jonathan Santlofer I always told myself that I’d never use anything stronger than pot. I was a middle-class kid away from home, at NYU for my second year of art school, and hard drugs scared the shit out of me. But pot, I loved it. I smoked in the morning, afternoon, and night. I’d go to school stoned, paint stoned, fuck stoned. It was 1970 and I was living on Avenue C. It looked like the set for an end-of-the-world movie: deserted tenements, bums, hustlers, junkies, and pushers on every corner. I thought I was cool. Read more…

“Talking Images” Panel Discussion – Tang Museum of Art – Skidmore College

“Talking Images” – Panel Discussion: Words in a work of art and the power of a word to create an image in writing. Where: The Tang Museum 815 North Broadway Saratoga Springs, NY – Part of Skidmore College Summer Program When: July 18, Reception 5:30-6:00, Discussion: 6-7:30pm Panelists: Jonathan Santlofer, Rick Moody, April Bernard, James Esber Narrated by Tang Museum Director, Ian Berry.